PARIS — The gold medal — the reason why USA Basketball is what it is, and does things the way it does — was slipping away.
For 30 minutes, Serbia had completely outclassed the U.S. men’s Olympic team. It wasn’t close. Nikola Jokić was doing his best impression of a human satellite, with his countrymen, just as his NBA teammates do in Denver, maneuvering around his massive screens to find wide-open shots. He was dealing; they were hitting dagger after dagger. And they were pounding them down at an alarming rate for the U.S. men. Through three quarters, Serbia was 15 of 30 from deep. That’s normally death for an opponent: high volume and high makes. Serbia led by 13 points entering the fourth quarter.
“They were perfect,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said of the Serbians. “They played a perfect game. Our coaches were saying, ‘Villanova-Georgetown.’”
The Americans didn’t look like a team that had any answers.
But what they found, as it turned out, was a level of defense that isn’t normally associated with the five guys who played most of the fourth quarter: Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Joel Embiid. Anthony Davis played the first four-plus minutes of the fourth before Embiid came in for the last 7:19.
Among the non-Davis quintet, only James has been a first-team All-NBA defensive selection — and he got the last of his five first-team awards 11 years ago. Let’s be honest. Embiid is known for mauling opponents in the paint with the rock, not locking them up on the perimeter. Curry, as he displayed Thursday, is the greatest shooter in the history of the NBA. KD has been underrated at times defensively during his career, but his Instagram handle is Easy Money Sniper, not I Turn Off Your Water. Booker splashes and drives; he doesn’t lock people up. And LeBron is … 39.
But that quintet bared their defensive teeth in the last 10 minutes Thursday and clawed their way back into the game. There was nothing pretty about the U.S. effort in the fourth quarter. It was physicality and tenacity and getting way uncomfortable in order to achieve their goal.
The Serbs went 0 for 9 from deep in the final 10 minutes. Yes, Curry was spectacular offensively, with 36 points, including nine 3s. His shooting kept the United States in the game in the first half. But the U.S. team’s incredible fourth-quarter comeback, and its 95-91 victory, sending it to Saturday’s gold-medal game against host France, was all about defensive heart.
“I think that we just upped the pressure,” Durant said. “We made them turn the ball over. And we contested their shots. We knew, at some point, the shots that they were making, it’s a battle of averages. You’re going to start to miss some of those shots. We tried to weather that storm. And also, when you’ve got Steph knocking down 3s like that, you’ve got Book making big 3s, Joel making big shot after big shot. I think all of us made some timely shots. And got out on the break and was able to get it going.”
The Americans switched everything defensively, with James becoming their primary post defender against Jokić, the three-time NBA Most Valuable Player. Embiid got in a stance and flattened out Serbia’s top perimeter threats on switches. Booker harassed Serbia’s tough point guards, and blew up some of Serbia’s double-screen sets, forcing their guards to shoot late in the shot clock. KD got in Bogdan Bogdanović’s shirt. Curry, as is his wont, didn’t get abused on post-ups or get buried on screens. The Americans were able to, finally, speed Serbia up, get it out of the comfort zone that let it play free and easy for three quarters.
“That lineup, with AD, ‘Bron, KD, myself and Book, there was a little bit more ball pressure,” Curry said. “We switched more than we did the whole game, just to try to keep bodies on bodies, even if you have a small guarding Jokić or guarding the other big fella (Nikola Milutinov). You don’t give up any advantages. And then, we just made them take tough shots. The first half, one small breakdown, and somebody had an open look, and it went in, over and over and over again. Fourth quarter was tough shots. We still couldn’t rebound, so we have to clean that up. But, pressure and intensity. And we had a lot of speed to turn defense into offense, and that helped us.”
Embiid did yeoman’s work on the perimeter while James battled behind Jokić in the paint. He blocked Serbia’s Ognjen Dobrić on a jumper, leading to a James drive that tied the game up at 84 with 3:41 left. James got back-to-back rebounds that ignited fast-break baskets — a Curry 3 that put the U.S. up 87-86 and his own coast-to-coast drive and score to put the United States up three at the 1:59 mark.
LECAPTAIN AMERICA!
Team USA extends their lead over Serbia. #ParisOlympics
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— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 8, 2024
Curry then ripped a Bogdanović pass and was off to his own races, going in for another fast-break hoop to make it 91-86 with 1:44 left. After a Serbia timeout, Durant jumped Bogdanović at midcourt, forcing an over-and-back violation.
“We tried to make them make tough 2s over length,” Booker said. “Putting LeBron on Jokić, putting KD on Jokić. …. we’ll take those tough 2s over the 3-pointers they were getting.”
These guys wouldn’t be on this team if they weren’t über-competitive. They have pride. Durant spoke movingly afterward of the pride he has wearing the U.S. jersey, and how the Olympics can, maybe just for a little while, bridge some of the fierce and awful divisions we have in our country. There was something quite special about the last 10 minutes of basketball at Bercy Arena on Thursday night, when the deepest and most prolific offensive team in the Olympics found its way by forgetting about strategies and rotations and dug down so very, very deep to keep its dream of defending its gold medal from Japan in 2021 alive.
Defense does still win championships, after all. Or at least keep you alive for another crack at one.
GO DEEPER
U.S. men escape Serbia as Steph Curry takes over
(Top photo of LeBron James and Stephen Curry: Harry Langer / DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
