Good morning. Let’s basketball.

Elysian Fields; Arthur B. Davies; 1928

There was no way that Team USA would get through the entire Olympic tournament without a teeth-clenching, eye-narrowing, close match against a worthy opponent. It did, however, feel for a moment after the Americans’ quarterfinal blowout over Brazil that perhaps the close call against South Sudan in the warmups was a wake-up call, and that the team had gelled into a form that couldn’t be tested.

But it became clear in the first four minutes of the semifinal game against Serbia on Thursday that this was going to be either a loss, or an instant classic, or both.

Stephen Curry was absolutely electric in the first quarter, finally having a major Olympic moment that didn’t occur in the Parade of Nations. He had 17 points and one classic turn-around-while-it’s-in-the-air celebration in the corner by the American bench. It was essentially Kevin Durant’s performance from the group play game against Serbia, but earlier. Not a counterpunch, but a punch right to Serbia’s dome …

… except Serbia was punching right back, somehow harder and more frequently. The Serbs went lights out from deep. Aleksa Avramovic and Ognjen Dobric were nailing tough deep shots, and Bogdan Bogdanovic played like a man possessed. Nikola Jokic was in control but orchestrating in a way that made every Serbian player look much better than they had in most of the tournament, in that Jokic and few others can. Serbia built a substantial lead as Curry largely disappeared in the second quarter and as the U.S. bench struggled to get anything going.

In the first half, it was really Curry and not much else for the United States — not team defense, not depth, not a victory inside, not transition, not rim attacks.

A few things changed in the second half. The defensive intensity level from Team USA went up, led by LeBron James. Jrue Holiday got really aggressive on the perimeter. Joel Embiid engaged higher and the team sent bodies at the best player alive, daring his more anonymous (to us) countrymen to beat the best collection of talent in 16 years. Devin Booker re-emerged in the role he’s played well in these Olympics, as a pressure release valve and dangerous fifth player on the floor. Steve Kerr really tightened his rotation, turning away from Anthony Edwards (who was sloppy early), Anthony Davis (a foul machine against Jokic) and Bam Adebayo (who struggled to be a connector on offense with teammates stuck in mud and an aggressive Serbian defense). Jayson Tatum again did not get off the bench, along with Tyrese Haliburton. Kerr did keep trying Durant until Durant eventually paid that bet off with some scintillating and crucial buckets down the stretch. Embiid had an extraordinary stretch, punctuated with a jumper, a dunk, and and-1 and a block. And really punctuated with Noah Eagle emphatically telling the audience to “Process That.”

LeBron was running the show and the huddle. This has been his team all summer long, from the warm-ups to the parade to each game. (I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a hand in USA Basketball making a full court press for Embiid, who he has always trumpeted.) LeBron was not interested in adding a second Olympic bronze to his collection. Luckily for LeBron, Steph had an all-time performance at the right time, hitting the go-ahead three and getting a transition bucket as Serbia crumbled.

And Serbia did crumble. Team USA got within six points a couple of times over the course of the second half, but once the Americans finally crossed the threshold and took a lead, Serbia totally fell apart. Jokic turned a little tentative with four fouls, the team went 0/10 from deep in the fourth quarter, Bogdanovic’s mania started to work against him, and the mistakes from players who are simply not at the level of Steph, LeBron, KD and Embiid piled up. Serbia damn near knocked the reigning four-time Olympic champions out of this game early, but they didn’t, and in the end, they couldn’t hold them off, not even in a 40-minute game.

One of the most thrilling and enjoyable basketball games in recent memory, at any level. One more to gold.

Here are the highlights. Watching the celebration hit the Olympic hotel is the most patriotic I’ve felt since … uh, since I watched the Quincy Hall race. I’m going to hang one of those American flags with the inscribed words that are usually something vaguely weird. But the cursive words on my flag are going to be: “Quincy Hall is coming back! Quincy Hall is digging deep! Quincy Hall is running past all of them!”

Jokic

No offense to my German friends or the Orlando Magic, but I hope Jokic grabs bronze on Saturday. He’s a legend no matter what happens the rest of his career, however long it lasts. What struck me around the third quarter is how he has significant on-court histories with … most of the Team USA players, half of which are legends themselves. He’s obviously had playoff wars with LeBron and AD, a couple series against KD, two series — including a barnburner — against Ant, some very interesting battles going both directions with Book, a little lopsided rivalry with Steph’s Warriors, a Finals win over Bam and the whole last four years of MVP debates and on-court ducking allegations with Embiid. Jokic has a long narrative story in the NBA, and he also features in a lot of other legends’ stories. That’s how we get lore. Add this chapter now.

In The Other Game …

France and Germany went a combined 16/61 (26%) from deep. Close, competitive game and a huge victory for the host nation (73-69) … but a total brickfest. Not an instant classic. Rudy Gobert again played limited minutes (five), Victor Wembanyama again struggled from the field (4/17 from the floor, he’s hit one of his last 14 threes) and France again got just enough offense from Guerschon Yabusele, Matthias Lessort and Isaia Cordinier. Quiet game from Franz Wagner, inefficient game from Dennis Schroder, and the German supporting cast couldn’t bail the stars out. Here are the highlights.

Team USA should destroy France based on how each team got here. But you never know, especially with the crowd as vociferous as it’s been in supporting Les Bleus.

Meanwhile On X, Formerly Known As Twitter

The great Lindsay Gibbs documents KD’s very long morning with his truest love: posting.

A sample:

Schedule

The medal round is Saturday in Paris. All times Eastern. Expect a special edition of the newsletter, either Saturday night or Sunday morning. Then Monday we’ll be back with some Lauri Markkanen talks and, of course, links.

Germany vs. Serbia (bronze), 5:30 AM

France vs. United States (gold), 3:30 PM

Be excellent to each other.