The semifinals are set at the 2024 Olympic Games in men’s basketball, and in a stunning surprise, Australia is not one of the four teams remaining. Things looked magnificent for the Boomers in their quarterfinal game against Serbia. Everything looked so great in fact, near the midway part of the second quarter, Australia had a commanding 46-22 lead. However, at that point forward, Australia was unable to protect their lead, and saw Serbia outscore Australia 68-44 en route to a 95-90 overtime win.
I will be honest. I thought this game was over in the second quarter, and switched to Olympic diving, as the women’s 10m platform event was taking place at the same time. It was not until I was watching Canada/France did I find out that a colossal comeback took place earlier.
The Australian offense was dried up indeed. They only scored 11 points as a unit in the third quarter. It should be no shock that the Serbian star was Nikola Jokic, the NBA MVP, who had 21 points and 14 rebounds.
Serbia will now play the United States on Thursday. The Americans clobbered Brazil 122-87. Six American players reached double digits in scoring with Devin Booker of the Phoenix Suns leading the way with 18 points.
What we learned from the Germany/Greece game was that Greece’s best player was clearly Giannis Antetokounmpo, and the Greek supporting cast did not put sustained pressure that looked very respectable in a 76-63 Germany win. Meanwhile, Canada showed a lack of discipline and struggled from beyond the arc in a 82-73 loss to the host country from France. In all-European semi, Germany will pay France.
