Sports News | It''s Some Olympic Rematches in the Paris Basketball Semi-finals, with US-Serbia and Germany-France
Get latest articles and stories on Sports at LatestLY. US coach Steve Kerr knows something unexpected will happen when his team plays against Serbia in the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics.
Paris, Aug 7 (AP) US coach Steve Kerr knows something unexpected will happen when his team plays against Serbia in the semi-finals of the Paris Olympics.
Maybe, Serbia will change its lineup. Maybe, Nikola Jokic will play the entire game. Or maybe, the surprise will be that there's no surprise at all. Whatever the case, Kerr knows the Americans have to be ready for anything.
The US will look to reach the gold medal game for the 18th time in its 20 Olympic appearances when it faces Serbia in the semifinals of the Paris Games on Thursday night.
The Americans are 2-0 against Serbia this summer, winning an exhibition last month, and then, winning again in the Olympic opener for both teams.
“Serbia is really good," Kerr said. "We can't get lulled to sleep because we beat them twice. We have to be prepared for their best effort.”
The final four teams at the Paris Games aren't an overly surprising mix, and the semifinal games are both rematches from contests earlier in this tournament.
World Cup champion Germany takes on Victor Wembanyama and host France in the first semifinal. Meanwhile, World Cup runner-up Serbia takes on the four-time defending Olympic champion US in the second semi-final.
Germany, Serbia and the US were all favoured in their quarterfinal wins over Greece, Australia and Brazil, respectively, while France pulled the lone surprise of sorts by ousting Canada.
Serbia rallied from 24 points down to beat Australia. Germany — barely trailed in the tournament before Tuesday — erased a 12-point deficit to beat Greece.
“We stayed together. We didn't panic, we stayed together,” Germany coach Gordie Herbert said. “Adversity's good.
The quarter-final is one of the toughest games to play. And, we just talked about enjoying the moment, but it's easy to say, not so easy to do.”
The medal games are Saturday. Thursday's winners play for gold, and Thursday's losers play for bronze.
“It's a great feeling to be able to make sure we play on the last day of the tournament, to make sure we give ourselves a chance to win a medal," France guard Evan Fournier said. "And hopefully, it's going to be the right one.”
Germany vs. France
How Germany got here: defeated Japan 97-77, defeated Brazil 86-73, defeated France 85-71, and defeated Greece 76-63 in the quarter-finals.
How France got here: defeated Brazil 78-66, defeated Japan 94-90, lost to Germany 85-71, and defeated Canada 82-73 in the quarter-finals.
Medal history: France is a three-time silver medalist (1948, 2000, 2020). Germany has never won an Olympic medal in men's basketball.
Outlook: The French rode defence to their win over Canada in the quarterfinals, with the curious case of Rudy Gobert an interesting subplot to that one — he says he had surgery to fix a finger issue, coach Vincent Collet says Gobert didn't have a procedure, but either way, he'll be good to go in the semifinals.
Whether he will return to the starting lineup remains unclear. ... This is Germany's first trip to the Olympic semi-finals. Going back to last year's World Cup, Germany is 12-0 in major international competition since last summer (excluding exhibitions). ... Thursday's game will be the fourth between these clubs this summer.
Germany went 2-1 in the first three, and France's win came when Germany was missing a bunch of starters. ... Germany's Franz Wagner is the highest per-game scorer left in the tournament, getting 20.8 per contest so far.
US vs. Serbia
How the US got here: defeated Serbia 110-84, defeated South Sudan 103-86, defeated Puerto Rico 104-83, and defeated Brazil 122-87 in the quarter-finals.
How Serbia got here: lost to the US 110-84, defeated Puerto Rico 107-66, defeated South Sudan 96-85, and defeated Australia 95-90 in the quarter-finals.
Medal history: The US has won 16 golds (1936, 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1976, 1984, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020), one silver (1972) and two bronzes (1988, 2004). Serbia won silver in 2016.
Outlook: The US has started an Olympics with four consecutive games of 100 or more points for only the second time. The other was 1992; that team scored 100 or more in all of its Olympic contests. ... Both US wins over Serbia this summer have been by exactly 26 points — 110-84 in France and 105-79 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. ... Nikola Jokic is averaging 19.3 points and Bogdan Bogdanovic is averaging 18.5 points for Serbia in these Olympics. ... Anthony Edwards is averaging 16.8 points per game to lead the U.S., and he's doing that coming off the bench. ... If Jayson Tatum makes a 3-pointer in either of the final two US games — he hasn't made one yet this summer — this will be the first US Olympic team in which all 12 players make at least a shot from beyond the arc. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)