Team USA survives Serbian scare

MANILA, Philippines — The United States had to dig deep to erase a 17-point deficit to beat Nikola Jokic’s Serbia 95-91 on Thursday to keep its bid for a fifth straight Olympic men’s basketball gold medal alive.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry dazzled with 36 points and all-time NBA scoring leader LeBron James had a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for the Americans, who will meet host France in a repeat of the Tokyo Olympics final Saturday.

France booked a return trip to the title game with a 73-69 victory over reigning World Cup champions Germany.

The US team led by James is reckoned to be the most talent laden since the 1992 Dream Team led by Michael Jordan.

But it took a massive fourth-quarter effort to finally subdue the Serbians, who led most of the night and took a 76-63 advantage into the final period.

“Big-time win for us,” James said. “We knew we were going to be challenged, we knew it was going to be the toughest game up to date, but it was a true total effort.”

Curry rattled in a three-pointer with 2:24 remaining to give the United States their first lead since the first quarter at 87-86.

“Knocking down a big shot like that, you live for those moments,” said Curry, who had struggled to find his shooting touch in his first Olympics.

“(I) haven’t shot the ball well the whole tournament,” he said. “But it doesn’t waver your confidence to meet the moment.”

James followed with a driving layup, Curry grabbed a steal and drove for a basket that pushed the US lead to five and the Americans held on.

Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic finished with 17 points and 11 assists for Serbia, who had 20 points from a brilliant Bogdan Bogdanovic.

Curry drilled five three-pointers on the way to 17 first-quarter points. But Serbia combined for five three-pointers themselves and led 31-23 after the first and continued to pour it on.

France shook off a slow start then held on late to edge Germany in front of an ecstatic home crowd, avenging its loss in the group stage for a chance at Olympic glory on home soil.

Guerschon Yabusele led France’s scoring with 17 points and Isaia Cordinier added 16.

NBA rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama scored a modest 11 points with seven rebounds but delivered three crucial blocked shots for France, whose 10-point fourth-quarter lead dwindled to two when Germany’s Franz Wagner drilled a three-pointer with 37 seconds to play.

Cordinier finally allowed French fans to celebrate with a pair of free throws to cap the scoring.

“Incredible, incredible moment,” Wembanyama said. “The fans made it hard for me not to cry.”

Wembanyama said the French players were driven by their group stage loss to Germany.

“Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime goal. Maybe nobody can reproduce that, so we have got to take our chance.”