Former Knicks to Face Team USA After Near Upset Bid

Former New York Knicks guards Evan Fournier and Frank Ntilikina now know they will face Team USA in Saturday’s gold medal match, but for the first three quarters of the second semifinal, it didn’t look so solidified.

After trailing by 13 points with 10 minutes to go, Team USA put their head down and clawed back to a win against Serbia 95-91 in Thursday’s semifinal. The Americans outscored the Serbians 32-15 in the final quarter to pull off the win.

Golden State Warriors icon Stephen Curry led Team USA with a game-high 36 points on 9 of 14 shooting from beyond the 3-point line. Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid added 19 points of his own while Los Angeles Lakers legend LeBron James notched a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists to pull off the win.

For Serbia, Atlanta Hawks guard Bogdan Bogdanovic scored a team-high 20 points on 8 of 18 shooting from the field. Reigning MVP and Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic scored 17 points and dished out 11 assists, but went 0 for 6 from beyond the 3-point line.

Apart from Jokic, Serbia shot 15 of 33 from distance, and that ended up being a huge factor in why they were in the game for so long. However, the Americans’ push with Curry at the forefront was able to bring them back in the game.

With Team USA’s win, they are guaranteed to be on the podium at the end of the tournament. They will face France in Saturday’s gold medal match at 3:30 p.m. ET. Serbia will have a chance to capture the bronze medal if they can beat Germany at 5 a.m. ET, who saw their unbeaten streak come to an end against France in today’s semifinal.

Saturday’s games can be streamed on Peacock.

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