A lot of people had to point fingers after Team USA just narrowly escaped Serbia in the Olympics semifinals. This also meant that a majority of them were blaming Steve Kerr for only winning with a 95-91 scoreline. While the head honcho for the Stars and Stripes was under much scrutiny and vitriol, he did not mind. Instead, he gave a lot of props to Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic along with the rest of their crew for putting up such a big fight.

Team USA fans have been quite spoiled in the past century. Only a handful of very special teams have been able to beat them at the Olympics. So, the expectation for them to blow out every single one of their opponents is always there. This has not been the case in their run at Paris at all. The closest that they got to losing where it mattered, Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic were there.

Steve Kerr, instead of acknowledging and dignifying the vitriol, had a lot of love for Serbia. He and the rest of the Team USA coaching staff even likened it to a very iconic college rivalry, via Ben Golliver of The Washington Post.

“Our coaches were saying Villanova-Georgetown for all of our older readers and viewers. Serbia played the perfect game. They forced us to reach the highest level of competition that we could find. Our guys were incredible in that 4th quarter, he declared.

Team USA vs. Serbia in the Olympics was absolute cinema

Aug 8, 2024; Paris, France; Serbia power forward Nikola Jokic (15) shoots the ball during the second half against the United States in a men's basketball semifinal game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
© Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
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Much like the battles between the Hoyas and Wildcats, this one was close. All of the credit had to go to Nikola Jokic and Bogdan Bogdanovic for their insane first-half performance. The Most Valuable Player out of the Denver Nuggets system struggled to sink his shots but still went 7-17 from the field. All of that totaled to 17 points. He also helped other members of the Serbian national team hear up by dishing out 11 assists.

A big beneficiary of those dimes was Bogdanovic. The Serbian guard scored a team-high 20 points by knocking down eight of his 18 shots from all three levels of scoring. The Team USA perimeter defense was quite a tough challenge for him because he only sank three out of his 10 shots from three-point land.

Obviously, a lot of fans would want Team USA to win. After all, it would be the perfect send-off to Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry. But, the valiant effort of Serbia to stay in contention during the whole duration of the game cannot be discounted.