Team USA and Serbia win to set up Heat battle between Adebayo and Jovic in Olympic semifinals
There will be a Miami Heat reunion in the men’s basketball semifinals of the 2024 Olympics.
With Heat center Bam Adebayo and Team USA defeating Brazil 122-87 and Heat forward Nikola Jovic and Serbia earning a 95-90 overtime win over Australia in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, Team USA and Serbia will face off in the semifinals on Thursday at 3 p.m. Eastern Time in Paris.
Regardless of the result of Thursday’s matchup, Team USA and Serbia will both also play Saturday for the opportunity to come away from the Paris Olympics with a medal. The winner of the Team USA-Serbia semifinal game will play for the gold medal on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET and the loser will play in the bronze medal game on Saturday at 5 a.m. ET.
The other semifinal game features a matchup between Germany and France on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET, with the winner moving on to the gold medal contest and the loser playing for the bronze medal on Saturday. To advance to the semifinals, Germany eliminated Greece with a 76-63 win and France ousted Canada with an 82-73 victory in Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
Adebayo moved one step closer to his second Olympic gold medal, finishing Tuesday’s win over Brazil with nine points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 shooting on threes, seven rebounds, one assist and one steal in 19 minutes. Adebayo began the game in his usual bench role, but opened the second half for Team USA in place of center Joel Embiid, who rested for the final two quarters of the lopsided affair.
Adebayo, 27, is averaging 8.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and one steal in 19.5 minutes per game while shooting 55.6 percent from the field and 3 of 8 (37.5 percent) from three-point range through Team USA’s first four games of the Paris Olympics.
But Jovic did not play in Serbia’s quarterfinal win over Australia because of an illness — not even sitting with the team on the bench for the contest due to cold-like symptoms.
The 21-year-old Jovic played in each of Serbia’s three group phase games leading up to the quarterfinals, averaging seven points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 16.7 minutes per game in a reserve role while shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 3 of 10 (30 percent) from three-point range during those three appearances to kick off his first Olympic experience. Jovic is still working his way back to form after recently returning from an ankle injury suffered in June during an offseason workout in Miami.
In addition to Adebayo and Jovic (the only two current Heat players competing in the 2024 Olympics), Erik Spoelstra is representing the Heat in Paris. Spoelstra, who is preparing for his 17th season as the Heat’s head coach, is serving as an assistant on Team USA’s coaching staff.
Also, retired Heat legend Dwyane Wade is the color commentator on NBC’s broadcast crew for all of Team USA’s games during the Paris Olympics.
Thursday’s game between Team USA and Serbia will mark their third meeting in the last 23 days, with Team USA winning each of the first two matchups by more than 20 points against the national team led by three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic. Team USA defeated Serbia 105-79 on July 17 in a pre-Olympic exhibition game in Abu Dhabi, and also came away with a 110-84 victory over Serbia on July 28 to open the Olympics during the group stage.
