Although both played a limited time, Miami Heat players Bam Adebayo and Nikola Jovic faced each other in an exciting semi-final round of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Jovic’s Serbia team started out strong early and led by as much as 17 points, but Adebayo’s Team USA was able to close out the game strong, winning 95-91.
Team USA did not have its best defensive effort to say the least, especially in the first half. They gave up 15 3-pointers and allowed Serbia to grab nine offensive rebounds. At one point, Serbia was shooting around 50 percent from deep, putting the pressure on Team USA to tighten up defensively.
Adebayo and Team USA did just enough to keep them in the game and close it out late in the fourth quarter. The legendary trio of LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant hit big shots to help Team USA finish the game. Curry led the team with 36 points while knocking down nine of Team USA’s 16 3-pointers. LeBron recorded a triple-double in this game.
Meanwhile, Adebayo scored zero points in two attempts this game. He only played 10 minutes, and he was at least able to log an assist and a steal to contribute to the victory. Jovic did not score either, but had an assist and a steal in three minutes of playing time.
Adebayo spent his 10 minutes of action defending Nikola Jokic. He did just enough defensively to put pressure on him and tire him out. Jokic was limited late in the game because he had four fouls, one away from fouling out. This limited what he was able to do defensively against players like Joel Embiid late in the game, which proved to be the difference in a four-point victory.
Team USA will take on France for their gold medal game on August 10, while Serbia will compete against Germany for the bronze medal. Both Miami Heat players will have a strong chance of winning a medal for their respective countries.