US avoids upset against Serbia, reaches gold medal game despite Tatum DNP originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The United States survived a huge shock in the semifinals of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, beating Serbia 95-91 to advance to Saturday’s gold medal match against France.
Team USA started the fourth quarter trailing 76-63, but in the fourth quarter they finally found their rhythm and were able to erase the deficit, keeping alive their hopes of winning a fifth straight gold medal in the men’s basketball team.
After trailing for most of the game, the U.S. finally tied the game at 84-84 with 3:39 left in the fourth quarter. Team USA closed out the game on an 18-7 run.
The story of the game was Stephen Curry’s dominance. The four-time NBA champion prevented Serbia from pulling away with 17 points in the first quarter. He finished with an Olympic career-high 36 points on 9 of 14 shooting from 3-point range. He scored five points in the final 2:30 to help Team USA complete the comeback and avoid what would have been an embarrassing defeat.
LeBron James also had 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists, good for a triple-double.
Aside from the win, it wasn’t a great game to watch if you’re a Boston Celtics fan. For the second time in this tournament, Jayson Tatum didn’t play at all. It was a puzzling move by U.S. head coach Steve Kerr (more on that below).
Celtics guard Jrue Holiday was back in the starting lineup, but failed to impress at either end of the court. His Celtics teammate Derrick White played just 6:46 — the fewest minutes of any player who took the court — and failed to score a single point.
Holiday was the only Celtics player allowed to play in the fourth quarter, but he played only the final eight seconds of the quarter.
In total, the three Celtics players combined for just three points on one shot: a three-pointer by Holiday.
Below is a full report on how the three Celtics players fared against Serbia.
Jayson Tatum
Last statistics line: Not played
It was a frustrating tournament for Tatum, who didn’t get the playing time a player of his caliber and Olympic experience deserves.
The decision to draft Anthony Edwards over Tatum was a poor one by Kerr, and could have potentially cost the U.S. a shot at the gold medal. Edwards shot 1-for-3 with two points, committed two fouls, two turnovers and had a plus-minus of minus-14 through 13:20 of playing time.
It was a baffling thing to see Kerr Tatum — a first-team All-NBA selection for three straight years — not play in the biggest game of the tournament so far. The U.S. struggled to score and didn’t defend the 3-point line well for most of the game, two things Tatum does very well.
Whether Tatum will be on the line with the gold medal on the line on Saturday remains to be seen. It should be noted that when the United States defeated France in the gold medal game at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (played in 2021), Tatum scored 19 points in 21 minutes off the bench. He’s a big-game player, and if Team USA wants to have the best possible chance of beating a very good French team, it would be a smart move to let Tatum play.
Jrue vacation
Last statistics line: 20 minutes, three points (1-for-2 FG, 1-for-2 3PT, 0-for-0 FT), seven assists, two rebounds, +1 plus-minus
Holiday started again and played well to begin the game. He didn’t score in the first half, but he led all players with six assists in the first two quarters. Holiday’s only shot made was a 3-pointer to bring Team USA within six with 3:20 left in the third quarter.
Derrick Wit
Last statistics line: Seven minutes, zero points (0-for-2 FG, 0-for-2 3PT, 0-for-0 FT), one steal, -16 plus-minus
White first entered the game with 1:42 remaining in the first quarter. He played 4:09 of the first half and scored zero points (0-for-2 shooting) with one steal and a plus-minus of minus-9 in the period.
White came back into the game with 2:37 left in the third quarter. Unfortunately for the C’s guard, his most impactful contribution in the period was drawing a foul on Serbia’s Marko Guduric on a 3-point attempt. Guduric nailed the 3-pointer and the ensuing free throw to complete a 4-point play and give Serbia a 76-61 lead with 32 seconds left in the third frame.
White’s seven minutes played and zero points are both tournament lows for him at the Olympics. He scored at least one basket in each of the first four games.
