The United States takes out the tanks

Team USA had to bring out the tanks on the Bercy court to avoid what would have been a historic stain. A devastating final burst (32-15 in the last quarter) brought down the heroic resistance of Serbia, which came very close to generating the biggest earthquake of the Paris Olympic Games.

For a long time, the Dream Team’s fifth consecutive gold was in question; Kevin Durant’s fourth. And, above all, the symbolic hegemony of world basketball. All of this was at stake in the evening at the Bercy Arena, which experienced the electric final minutes in which the three great legends, Curry, LeBron and Durant, conspired to safeguard the honour of the inventors of the game.

The Warriors phenomenon scored 36 points; the Akron legend, 16 points and 10 assists. And ‘Durántula’ made the basket that sealed the Olympic final. This Saturday, at 9:30 p.m., the United States will face France in the Bercy hell.

With Nikola Jokic cooking balls for the whole team on the night of Bercy, and Bogdanovic and Abramovic as killers, Serbia went into the break with an unexpected 37-50 that punished some American laziness.

Only Stephen Curry, 20 points in the first two quarters, was up to the task. Surely confident after the placid walk in the first phase of Lille, and the lack of resistance from Brazil, Team USA thought it would win the gold without having to sweat. It did not count on Serbian pride.

From the president of its Olympic Committee, Bozidar Maljkovic, to its coach, Svetislav Pesic, to the president of its Federation, Predrag Danilovic, they are fierce competitors.

And now they have a genuine player like Jokic, capable of putting a basketball empire in check, with all its generals on the court.

After accumulating the biggest deficit in the last 20 years (they were not down by 17 since the ominous Athens Games), Kerr, Spoelstra and company had no choice but to put their players in their place in the locker room.

LeBron James’ simple body language in the first two plays after the break was a statement of intent about what the United States intended: to intimidate.

Jrue Holiday went all out on Bogdanovic and seemed to put things in order, again with Curry in charge.

But Serbia remained stable in its project to achieve something historic and escaped to the point of being close to something very big (61-76). The United States only had to bite back and start scoring. They did. Two three-pointers from Durant and Booker in the same action left the game at a tight 73-78 with seven minutes left and Jokic installed in the four personals. Problems for Serbia, who also pulled out a superb Bogdanovic, to keep a safe distance.

The United States finally brought out the tanks. Embiid helped for a good while, taking advantage of the threat of elimination that limited Jokic. LeBron entered the Serbian zone like a buffalo, left-footed it and tied the game (84-84) with 3:39 left. A cascade of unstoppable baskets by the Yankees brought the game to 91-86. A basket by Kevin Durant and two free throws by Curry ended up easing the pain for a team that, for once, seemed human.