USA avoids upset vs. Serbia to reach gold medal game despite Tatum DNP originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The United States survived a huge scare in the semifinals of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and held on to beat Serbia 95-91 to advance to Saturday’s gold medal game against France.
Team USA entered the fourth quarter trailing 76-63, but they finally found their groove in the fourth quarter to erase that deficit and keep their hopes of winning a fifth straight men’s basketball gold medal alive.
After trailing nearly the entire game, the U.S. finally pulled even at 84-84 with 3:39 remaining in the fourth quarter. Team USA ended the game on a 18-7 run.
The story of the game was Stephen Curry’s domination. The four-time NBA champion prevented Serbia from pulling away with 17 points in the first quarter. He finished with an Olympic career-high 36 points on 9-of-14 shooting from 3-point range. He scored five points in the final 2:30 to help Team USA finish off the comeback and avoid what would’ve been an embarrassing defeat.
LeBron James also chipped in 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for a triple-double.
Aside from the victory, it wasn’t a great game to watch if you’re a Boston Celtics fan. For the second time in this tournament, Jayson Tatum didn’t play at all. It was a puzzling move by U.S. head coach Steve Kerr (more on that below).
Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was again in the starting lineup but didn’t make much of an impact at either end of the floor. His Celtics teammate Derrick White played just 6:46 — the fewest minutes of any player who saw the floor — and didn’t score a single point.
Holiday was the only Celtics player to see playing time in the fourth quarter, but he only played the final eight seconds of the frame.
In total, the three Celtics players combined to score just three points on one made shot — a 3-pointer by Holiday.
Here’s a full recap of how the three Celtics players fared against Serbia.
Jayson Tatum
Final stat line: Didn’t play
It’s been a frustrating tournament for Tatum. He hasn’t received the playing time a player of his caliber and Olympic experience deserves.
The decision to go with Anthony Edwards over Tatum was a bad one by Kerr, and could have potentially cost the U.S. a chance for the gold medal. Edwards shot 1-for-3 with two points, committed two fouls, two turnovers and had a plus-minus of minus-14 in 13:20 of playing time.
It was mind-boggling to see Kerr not play Tatum — a first team All-NBA selection three consecutive years — in the most important game of the tournament so far. The United States was struggling to score and didn’t defend the 3-point line well most of the game, and those are two things Tatum does very well.
It remains to be seen whether Tatum will play with the gold medal at stake Saturday. It should be noted that when the United States defeated France in the gold medal game at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (played in 2021), Tatum scored 19 points in 21 minutes off the bench. He’s a big-game player, and if Team USA wants the best possible chance to beat a very good France team, playing Tatum would be a smart move.
Jrue Holiday
Final stat line: 20 minutes, three points (1-for-2 FG, 1-for-2 3PT, 0-for-0 FT), seven assists, two rebounds , +1 plus-minus
Holiday started again and played well to begin the game. He didn’t score in the first half, but he did lead all players with six assists over the first two quarters. Holiday’s lone made shot was a 3-pointer to pull Team USA within six points with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter.
Derrick White
Final stat line: Seven minutes, zero points (0-for-2 FG, 0-for-2 3PT, 0-for-0 FT), one steal , -16 plus-minus
White entered the game for the first time with 1:42 left in the opening quarter. He played 4:09 in the first half and scored zero points (0-for-2 shooting) with a steal and a plus-minus of minus-9 during that span.
White came back into the game with 2:37 left in the third quarter. Unfortunately for the C’s guard, his most impactful contribution during that stretch was fouling Serbia’s Marko Guduric on a 3-point attempt. Guduric hit the 3-pointer and the ensuing free throw to complete a 4-point play and give Serbia a 76-61 lead with 32 seconds left in the third frame.
White’s seven minutes played and zero points both represent tournament-lows for him at the Olympics. He scored at least one basket in each of the first four games.
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