Team USA and Serbia advance to set up Heat battle between Adebayo and Jovic in semifinals
There will be a Miami Heat reunion in the men’s basketball semifinals of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
With Heat center Bam Adebayo and Team USA defeating Brazil 122-87 and Heat forward Nikola Jovic and Serbia earning a 95-90 overtime win over Australia in the quarterfinals Tuesday, the U.S. and Serbia will face off in a semifinal Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.
The winner of the Team USA-Serbia game will play for the gold medal at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. The loser will play in the bronze-medal game at 5 a.m. Saturday.
The other semifinal features Germany versus France at 11:30 a.m. Thursday. To reach the semifinals, Germany eliminated Greece 76-63 on Tuesday and France ousted Canada 82-73.
Adebayo, 27, moved one step closer to his second Olympic gold medal, finishing Tuesday’s win over Brazil with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field (1 of 3 on threes). He also had seven rebounds, one assist and one steal in 19 minutes.
Adebayo began the game in his usual bench role, but opened the second half for Team USA in place of center Joel Embiid, who rested for the final two quarters of the lopsided affair.
In the first four games at the Olympics, Adebayo is averaging 8.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and one steal in 19.5 minutes. He is shooting 55.6 percent from the field (3 of 8 on threes).
Jovic did not play in Serbia’s quarterfinal win over Australia because of an illness — not even sitting with the team on the bench for the game because of cold-like symptoms.
Jovic, 21, played in each of Serbia’s three group phase games before the quarterfinals, averaging seven points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 16.7 minutes per game in a reserve role. He shot 43.8 percent from the field and 3 of 10 from three-point range in those three games to kick off his first Olympic experience.
Jovic is still working his way back into form after recently returning from an ankle injury suffered in June during an offseason workout in Miami.
In addition to Adebayo and Jovic, Erik Spoelstra is representing the Heat in Paris. Spoelstra, who is preparing for his 17th season as the Heat’s head coach, is an assistant on Team USA’s coaching staff.
Also, retired Heat star Dwyane Wade is the color commentator on NBC’s broadcast crew for all of Team USA’s games at the Olympics.
Thursday’s game between Team USA and Serbia — which is led by three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic — will be their third meeting in 23 days, with Team USA winning each of the first two matchups by more than 20 points.
Team USA defeated Serbia 105-79 on July 17 in a pre-Olympic exhibition game in Abu Dhabi, and came away with a 110-84 victory over Serbia on July 28 to open the group stage.