On August 6, Beijing time, the 2024 Paris Olympic Games continued. Today's men's basketball knockout round saw a number of matches, with Germany knocking out Greece in an earlier match. In a later match, Serbia faced Australia. Both teams are very strong, with Serbia having NBA superstar Jokic at the helm and Australia with a number of NBA players, and the game is destined to be exciting.
The game was very close from the start, and the two teams went back and forth. However, at the beginning of the second half of the quarter, Serbia fell into a scoring drought and was hit by Australia with a wave of 12-0 attacks, and the point difference quickly widened.
Heading into the second quarter, Serbia's scoring drought continued, with Australia taking advantage of the situation to score eight points in a row to widen the gap to more than 20 points, with Serbia trailing by as many as 24 points. Australia guard Mills burst out in the quarter, scoring 18 points in less than ten minutes. Jokic came on the court to lead Serbia on a comeback, and at halftime, Serbia was still trailing by 12 points.
In the second half, Serbia did not give up, continued to chase points and used a wave of 10-0 offensive to achieve a comeback in the third quarter. In this section, it was Australia's turn to attack dumb. Australia scored just 11 points in the entire third quarter. In the final quarter, Australia were able to take the lead, although they were in close pursuit and tied the score at one point. At the crucial moment, Micic made one of two free throws, and Mills dragged the game into overtime with a difficult jumper.
In overtime, the two sides were still inseparable, the two teams hit three-pointers one after another, and at the critical moment, Jokic showed his true superstar nature, he first scored 2 points under the basket, and then hit a one-on-one back-to-back jumper, cutting 4 points in a row, allowing Serbia to take the initiative. Australia was unbalanced and made consecutive mistakes, Bogdanovic hit two free throws, and Serbia 95-90 passed through the final four.
On the Australia side, Josh Keady played 33 minutes, shooting 11-of-20 from the field and 3-of-5 from three-point range, finishing with 25 points, five rebounds and four assists, as well as seven turnovers and four fouls. Mills played 35 minutes and finished with 26 points, three rebounds and two steals on 11-of-21 shooting, 2-of-5 three-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws. In the final moments of the fourth quarter, Mills helped Australia send the game into overtime with a difficult jumper, but ultimately lost.
Jokic continued to play the role of the team's anchor, continued to play in full play, led the team to recover the score in the third quarter, contributed key defense in overtime, and also used the rules to legally interfere with the ball, and the last hook hand and a step-back mid-range shot led the team to victory. He started 38 minutes and finished with 21 points, 14 rebounds (5 frontcourt rebounds), 8 assists, 4 steals and 1 block on 9-of-18 shooting (0-of-3 from three-point range) and 3-of-4 free throws, with a plus/minus of +17.
Serbia will face the winner of United States and Brazil in the semi-finals, and they have a good chance of hitting for a medal, let's see how far Mr. Yoo and his team can go!