LeBron and Curry celebrate as USA beat Serbia 95-91 at Bercy Arena (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

AIPS ASIA News:

PARIS, August 9, 2024 – Filip Petrusev was born on 15 April 2000. At that time, in Ohio, LeBron James was already 2.01 metres high and would be soon featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the first high school basketballer to do so.

Yet here they are today, facing each other at Bercy Arena, one as a 39-year-old, all-time scorer of the NBA, two Olympic gold medals, respected and admired by the sports world; and the other, who plays at Panathinaikos after a forgettable NBA experience, thinking that trash-talking and winding up LeBron could be a good idea for his team’s strategy.

As Serbia took the 17-point lead (45-22), Petrusev grinned directly at LeBron’s sons, igniting his immediate reaction. And LeBron, whose contribution to the game had been limited until then, switched to angry-LeBron mode, becoming the team’s soul (16 points, 10 assists, 12 rebounds) in a spectacular comeback and an Olympic semi-final to be remembered.

It was 95-91, a miraculous effort after the Dream Team had lost the first three quarters (23-31, 20-23, 20-22) and Serbia managed to be 17 points ahead with a brilliant zonal marking, that they have never performed against the USA before. But FIBA-style marking was mixed with too much talking. And anyone could immediate sense that they might be shooting themselves in the the foot.

RECORD CURRY And the USA had Stephen Curry, who was not interested in engaging in any arguments, but on shooting from every possible angle as if it was an all-star game competition. His 36 points were the highest individual score in an Olympic semi-final. With the atmosphere heating up in the fourth quarter, he even took the shots from the line smiling. Although with Curry alone the comeback wouldn’t have been possible.

ROCK-SOLID EMBIID Not without Joel Embiid, who had to face a constant booing from the French fans since minute 1, and yet emerged as the winner in the one-to-one against Jokic.

On top of them, there was also Kevin Durant, whose contribution in the last quarter helped to sink Serbia’s hopes.

KING JAMES But the real soul of the comeback was LeBron James, who at 39 has signed the fourth triple-double in the history of Olympics: one belonged to him, one to Alexander Belov in 1976 and one to Luka Doncic in 2021.

Lacking the in-depth of the USA, Serbia relied too much on their stars. Jokic played 37 minutes. In the last quarter, when he was most needed, his batteries were dried up. 32-15 in the last quarter is a result that speaks for itself. They started 63-76 and levelled 84-84 with 3:41 to end.  The first time they were winning was with 2:24 remaining, 87-86, thanks to Curry’s three-pointer. Then followed LeBron (2), Curry (2), Bogdanovic (2) and Durant (2), to retain the four-point lead with 34 seconds to go. Avramovic pulled back to 93-91, and then Curry, with two free-throws, sealed the final 95-91. The last rebound was captured by no other than LeBron.

Serbian players ended up insulting the referees. But a technical or a walking call didn’t change the course of the game. It was LeBron – correction, angry-Lebron – who did it. And for that, Serbians need to point the finger to themselves. It was the second time in Olympic history that a team that had lost the first three quarters, ends up winning the game. The previous was Lithuania against Croatia in Beijing.

The USA will now go for the gold against hosts France, repeating the Olympic final of Tokyo three years ago. Serbia will battle for the bronze against Germany, with the feeling that they could have been in the crucial game. But playing a perfect game for three quarters don’t guarantee a victory, especially now if you’ve managed to turn LeBron in angry-LeBron.