Team USA rallies for win over Serbia to advance to gold medal game. What it means for Bam, Jovic
The only two current Miami Heat players competing in the 2024 Olympics faced off for a spot in the men’s basketball gold medal game. At the end of the matchup, only one still has an opportunity at gold.
That’s Heat center Bam Adebayo after Team USA narrowly avoided a shocking result, rallying from a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Heat forward Nikola Jovic and Serbia 95-91 in the Olympic semifinals on Thursday in Paris.
Led by three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, Serbia led by as many as 17 points and pulled ahead by 11 with 8:06 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Team USA closed the game on a dominant 28-13 run to complete the comeback and keep its gold medal hopes alive behind a game-high 36-points from Stephen Curry.
With France earning a 73-69 win over Germany on Thursday in the other semifinal matchup, Adebayo and Team USA will battle against France in the gold medal game of the Paris Olympics on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The winning team will be awarded the gold medal and the losing team will come away with the silver medal.
Jovic and Serbia are left taking on Germany in the bronze medal game on
Saturday at 5 a.m. ET. The winning team will get the bronze medal and the losing team won’t get a medal.
Adebayo finished Thursday’s win scoreless, but recorded one assist and one steal in nine minutes off Team USA’s bench.
After winning the gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in the summer of
2021 in his first Olympic appearance, a second gold medal would only add to Adebayo’s already impressive basketball resume.
This upcoming season will be Adebayo’s eighth in the NBA after being drafted by the Heat with the 14th overall pick in 2017. He has made three NBA All-Star Game appearances in his first seven NBA seasons — all spent with the Heat.
Adebayo, 27, has also produced at a pace that would make him one of the greatest Heat players ever if he spends all or most of his career with the organization. At Adebayo’s current pace, he and retired Heat icon Dwyane Wade could end up as No. 1 and No. 2 as the Heat’s all-time career leaders in categories like two-point field goals made, free throws made, assists, steals and points, among others, while also on track to overtake Udonis Haslem as the Heat’s all-time leading rebounder within the next five seasons.
If Team USA can defeat France on Saturday to come away with the gold
medal for the fifth straight Olympics, Adebayo will become the first player in franchise history to win multiple gold medals
while with the Heat.
A Team USA victory would also result in Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra’s first Olympic gold
medal. Spoelstra is an assistant coach for the national team under Team USA head coach Steve Kerr, marking Spoelstra’s first Olympic experience.
Jovic didn’t play much on Thursday after missing Tuesday’s quarterfinal win over Australia because of an illness. He finished the loss with zero points, one rebound and one assist in three minutes off Serbia’s bench.
A Serbia win on Saturday would clinch a bronze medal for the 21year-old Jovic in his Olympic debut. Jovic would become just the sixth different player to win an Olympic medal while with the Heat, joining Adebayo, Tim Hardaway, LeBron James, Alonzo Mourning and Wade.
BACK TO SCHOOL
The Heat teamed up with Girls, Inc. and Project UP-START to put together a back-to-school shopping spree for 10 students on Thursday presented by Netspend. Each child received a $500 gift card to shop at Target in the Miami neighborhood of Midtown to buy school necessities like notebooks, pencils, pens, backpacks, clothing, and other supplies.
“It feels great to be a part of something like this,” said Heat forward Haywood Highsmith, who made an appearance at the back-to-school event at Target. “This is making a huge impact on children’s lives and helping them for this upcoming school year.”