The United States men’s basketball team begins its quest for a fifth straight Olympic gold medal with a matchup vs. Serbia on Sunday. Tip time is set for 11:15 a.m. EST.
A reminder of how the Olympic format works: 12 teams are divided into three groups of four. Each group plays a round-robin schedule against the other three teams in its group. Two points are awarded for a win and one point for a loss. Tiebreakers within the group are decided head-to-head.
Based on total points, the top two teams from each group, plus the top two third-place teams, advance to the quarterfinals, at which point it becomes a single-elimination knockout tournament. In the case of a tie between teams from opposing groups for the two wild card spots, it’s broken by the total score differential.
Here’s a look at the groups and how they have fared so far.
|
GROUP A |
AUSTRALIA (1-0) |
SPAIN (O-1) |
CANADA |
GREECE |
|
GROUP B |
GERMANY (1-0) |
JAPAN (0-1) |
FRANCE |
BRAZIL |
|
GROUP C |
UNITED STATES |
SOUTH SUDAN |
PUERTO RICO |
SERBIA |
What to know about USA vs. Serbia
The Americans are obviously the most collectively talented team in the field, but you have to keep in mind that you’re getting a diminished return on each player’s talent because none of them are playing the same role that they play for their NBA teams. You’re not getting Jayson Tatum, the 25-point scorer for the Boston Celtics. You are getting the guy who averaged 6.4 PPG through the five exhibition matches.
This tournament will not be a cakewalk, and the tough road starts against a Serbia team led by the best player in the world in Nikola Jokic. Serbia’s roster features seven current or former NBA players. Jokic is joined by Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks, who represents the classic international player who serves in a supporting NBA role but can play like a god for his home country in a featured capacity.
Serbia’s other current or former NBA players …
- Current: Nikola Jovic (Miami Heat)
- Current: Vasilije Micic (Charlotte Hornets)
- Current: Aleksej Pokusevski (Charlotte Hornets)
- Former: Marko Guduric (Memphis Grizzlies, 2019-20)
- Former: Filip Petrusev (3 games with Kings, Sixers last year)
Will Kevin Durant play?
Signs are pointing to yes. After missing the entire exhibition schedule nursing a calf injury, Durant has participated in three straight practices.
“I’m confident we’ll have everybody ready [Sunday],” Team USA coach Steve Kerr said. That also includes Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis, both of whom have missed recent practice time with illnesses.
Who will start for the U.S.?
LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid are locked in. The other two slots figure to be between Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards and Devin Booker. Kevin Durant would certainly be in the starting lineup if he had been playing this whole time, but it seems more like he’ll come off the bench at least for this one game to get his legs and rhythm back. Holiday feels like a good bet for one of the spots for his defense, and my guess would be Edwards for his individual creation for the other spot, especially with Durant taking the top-scoring role for the reserves.
Past results
The United States defeated Serbia 105-79 on July 17 in an exhibition, but Bogdanovic didn’t play in that game. Serbia won silver at the 2023 World Cup without Nikola Jokic, which obviously bodes well for their chances in Paris with the best player in the world in action, but keep in mind that the American team that finished fourth at that World Cup only included two players (Tyrese Haliburton and Anthony Edwards) that are on this Olympic roster.
In other words, you can pretty much throw past results out. This is one game in the Olympics. There are a lot of good players on both sides. Anything can happen.
Click here for CBS Sports’ dedicated coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics, complete with an official medal count, Team USA tracker, stories, videos and much more.
