If you know anything about Stephen Curry, you knew he would be in show mode as the 2024 USA Basketball Men’s National Team faced Serbia on Wednesday in a tune-up for the Paris Olympics 2024.
Curry had Dejan Milojevic in his heart. Milojevic, a Serbian former professional player, was the assistant coach on Curry’s Golden State Warriors who died Jan. 17 after a heart attack at a team dinner the night before. Milojevic was 46.
So Curry was ready to do what Curry does in the USA Basketball Showcase matchup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The chef cooked for the first nine U.S. points of the game, then did the same by scoring nine straight for the Americans — capped by a four-point play — in the second quarter. Curry finished with 24 points, including those 18 in the first half, as the top-ranked U.S. came away with a 105-79 victory over fourth-ranked Serbia that left the Etihad Arena sellout crowd of 12,517 buzzing about the Americans’ overall performance.
The U.S. will take its act to London’s O2 for games Saturday against first-time Olympic qualifier South Sudan and Monday vs. 2023 FIBA Men’s World Cup champion Germany, both at 3 p.m. ET, to conclude pre-Olympic play. Saturday’s game is on Fox.
Bam Adebayo flashed his presence with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Anthony Edwards had 16 points and three steals and LeBron James scored 11 points for the Americans, who are 3-0 in the USA Basketball Showcase this year. Anthony Davis was a defensive force, blocking six shots to go along with seven points and six rebounds. Joel Embiid matched Adebayo with a team-best eight boards.
“We’re getting better and we’re on a good path,” said U.S. coach Steve Kerr. “… I like the way the guys came out and really competed defensively and tried to wear Serbia down with the ball pressure and the defense.”
Adebayo had 15 3-pointers this season after eight in his previous six.
“I made the first one, so I kept shooting,” said Adebayo, who hit 35.7% from deep with the Miami Heat in 2023-24.
Playing with Davis, who now has 12 blocks, the duo has become a nice combo on both ends of the floor for the U.S.
“Bam and AD together are really something,” Kerr said. “The switching, they can also protect the rim and be in a drop if we go to that coverage. Combined with the ball pressure Book was putting on their point guard, I thought it really set a tone for us.”
The starting five of Curry, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, James and Embiid, nearly the same as the USA Basketball Showcase opener vs. Canada, with Tatum in for Devin Booker. That meant the second unit consisted of Tyrese Haliburton, Edwards, Booker, Davis and Adebayo. Curry, James and Embiid have started all three exhibition games.
Injury replacement Derrick White, with just one practice under his belt after joining the team in Abu Dhabi, made his first appearance when he checked in for brief stints in the second and fourth quarters. He had one point and four rebounds in just over 9 minutes of action.
“I think some of the turnovers that we’ve had, most of them have been from miscommunication,” Embiid said of starting with Curry and James. “But it’s good. I’m having the time of my life. I don’t have to do anything. I’m happy just chilling. Just hanging out doing the little things and just playing together and winning.”
Kevin Durant, the all-time leading scorer in U.S. Olympic history, has missed all three USA Basketball Showcase games with a strained calf, but he did do some on-court work pregame.
Three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic had 16 points on 6-of-19 shooting and 11 rebounds, while Aleksa Avramovic added 14 points for Serbia, which was coming off an 84-73 loss to fifth-ranked Australia the day before and was the silver medalist at last year’s World Cup. The U.S. had a day off since beating the Aussies 98-92 Monday. Bogdan Bogdanovic, one of three NBA players on the Serbian roster, did not play due to injury, while Nikola Jovic has missed all three of Serbia’s exhibitions.
This matchup could provide a roadmap for the U.S. for its Group C opener at the Paris Olympics, which will be July 28 against Serbia. South Sudan is also in the U.S. group. The intensity was certainly there from the beginning, with Serbian coach Svetislav Pesic whistled for a technical foul just 39 seconds in.
Despite Curry dazzling, the U.S. had turnover issues with three coming early and Serbia converting them into seven points. That helped the Serbs, who lost to the U.S. in the 2016 Olympic gold-medal game, jump out to a 14-9 lead on a Jokic bucket with 3 minutes, 43 seconds in and then 20-16 with 3:47 left that prompted a Kerr timeout. The U.S. responded by closing the quarter on a 12-8 run — the final five by Edwards — for a 28-28 tie after an entertaining 10 minutes.
The U.S. was down 36-35 when Curry took over for a second time, with a 3-pointer, a layup and then his four-point play for a 44-40 U.S. lead with 4:41 left in the half. Edwards added a 3-pointer as part of a 16-2 run that put the U.S. in control at halftime.
“Getting our chemistry right leads to good shots,” Curry said.
Unlike Monday, when the U.S. had a 24-point lead that was cut to four late, there was no second-half letdown against Serbia. Leading 59-45 at the break, the U.S. put away Serbia with a 24-13 third-quarter advantage for an 83-58 cushion.
“Just focus,” Curry said of the difference in the second-half play. “The Australia game, we gave up some transition plays, some open 3s. Both of those teams are good teams. I wouldn’t read too much into that, but it was great for us to control the whole game once we opened it up and not to have any drama down the stretch.”
Now with another long flight to London and a step closer to Paris, the U.S. is slowly finding its identity.
“The whole focus for this team is defense, defense, defense,” Kerr said. “As long as we are putting pressure on the ball and making things difficult for our opponent, it’s going to be a different guy every night. These guys are really talented. It was Steph tonight, next game it will be somebody else. It doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is winning and our guys know that.”
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