Team USA came off a tough contest against Team Australia and Paul George even said the Aussies played dirty. On Friday, they faced off with a Serbia team looking to upset Team USA and improve their standing in Group A of the 2016 Rio Olympics. For a majority of the game, Team USA had their backs against the wall going up against Serbia and they somehow powered through sloppy play, bad shooting and even worse defense to escape with a 94-91 victory.
Despite an 18-point lead in the first quarter, the 2016 U.S. Olympic Men’s Basketball Team had to battle a Serbia team looking to avoid going 1-3 in their group. Team USA pulled off the win to go to 4-0 in preliminary pool play in their win on Friday night at Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro.
Serbia reduced the U.S. lead to nine points at the end of the second quarter, and it was a close game from that point on. Featuring a balanced scoring effort that saw six players score in double-figures, the USA also was helped by a U.S. men’s Olympic record 33 made free throws.
Kyrie Irving led Team USA with 15 points and five assists while DeAndre Jordan tallied 13 points coming off the bench and DeMar DeRozan joined him as a reserve scoring option dropping 11 points of his own. Paul George, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony each score 12 points for Team USA.
Serbia was led by Denver Nuggets young star Nikola Jokic who came off the bench to score 25 points and grab six rebounds. Miroslav Raduljica and Milos Teodosic led the Serbia starters with 18 points each.
Team USA’s next contest will be their final matchup in preliminary pool play and it will come against France, a team who many believe will pose a threat to Team USA. Their game will be on Sunday at 1 pm ET.
