PARIS: The United States erased a 17-point deficit to beat Nikola Jokic’s Serbia 95-91 on Thursday and reach the Olympic men’s basketball final, keeping their bid for a fifth straight gold medal alive.
Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry dazzled with 36 points and all-time NBA scoring leader LeBron James had a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
But it took a massive fourth-quarter effort to finally subdue the Serbs, who led most of the night and took a 76-63 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker drilled back-to-back three-pointers to start the fight-back.
Joel Embiid pulled the States within four with a three-point play and James tied it up at 84-84 with 3:41 to play.
Curry rattled in a three-pointer with 2:24 remaining to give the United States their first lead since the first quarter 87-86.
James followed with a driving layup, Curry grabbed a steal and drove for a basket that pushed the US lead to five and the Americans held on.
“We know we weren’t playing our best basketball at all the whole game, but we were like two or three possessions away or one bad bounce away from flipping the momentum,” Curry said.
“We could feel it. There was a point end of the third quarter where you started to feel a little like ... are they going to slow down at all?
“That first four minutes of the fourth quarter changed everything.”
Embiid scored 19 points and Durant woke up just in time after a sleepy first half to add nine and the US maintained their chance to claim a 17th Olympic crown.
Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic finished with 17 points and 11 assists for Serbia, who got 20 points from a brilliant Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Curry got off to a scorching start, drilling five three-pointers on the way to 17 first-quarter points.
But Serbia combined for five three-pointers themselves and led 31-23 after a frenetic first quarter in which only four players scored for the United States.
Serbia continued to pour it on, pushing their lead to 42-25 with more than six minutes left in the second period.
Struggling offensively, the United States were also unable to slow the Serbian offense keyed by Jokic.
Aleksa Avramovic was a deadly four-of-six from three-point range on the way to 15 first-half points and Atlanta Hawks shooting guard Bogdanovic had 12 before the break.
Curry had 20 points in the first half but subdued Phoenix Suns star Durant missed his only attempt.
Suddenly the United States, whose romp through the group stage included a 110-84 victory over Serbia, looked in serious trouble for the first time at the Paris Games.
Back-to-back three-pointers from Curry and Jrue Holiday cut the deficit to 59-65 but try as they might the US couldn’t reel Serbia in.
Marko Guduric converted a four-point play when he was fouled by Derrick White on a bomb from well beyond the arc to propel Serbia into the fourth quarter in the ascent.