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United States vs Serbia: Nikola Jokic goes against Team USA
The United States men’s basketball team starts the 2024 Paris Olympics tournament against Serbia at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille on Sunday.
Can somebody come close to Team USA?
After losing in the semifinal of the World Cup last year, Team USA looks much more dangerous at the Paris Olympics, with some of the best players in the world being part of it. LeBron James is the leader of the team, and a fun fact is that he made his debut at the Olympics 20 years ago in Athens. Head coach Steve Kerr has plenty of options, like Joel Embiid, Anthony Edwards, and especially Steph Curry, as the two have won four NBA championships with the Golden State Warriors. Team USA won the gold medal at the previous three Olympics, and they are the major favorites to repeat that once again.
How good is Serbia?
Serbia is a team with plenty of talent on it. Nikola Jokic is the best player on the team who is coming off winning his third MVP award in the NBA. Still, he is not considered the leader of this team as that role belongs to Bogdan Bogdanovic from the Atlanta Hawks. There are a couple of more NBA players in the Serbian team like Vasilije Micic from the Charlotte Hornets and Nikola Jovic from the Miami Heat. Head coach Svetislav Pesic was the leader of the team of Yugoslavia that beat Team USA at the 2002 FIBA World Cup in Indianapolis and won the gold medal.
Betting Trends
Team USA won four of the last five games against Serbia. Recently, they played a friendly game in Abu Dhabi where Team USA won 105-79. Serbia won the match for fifth place in the 2019 FIBA World Cup by 94-89. Team USA won the previous three head-to-head games, and two of those were in the Finals of the 2016 Olympics and the 2014 FIBA World Cup.
Prediction and Conclusion
There is no doubt that Team USA is a major favorite to win gold at the Paris Olympics, but they showed their vulnerability in the 101-100 win over South Sudan. In the last game before going to Paris, Team USA defeated Germany 92-88. Serbia is also coming off a win, as they defeated Greece with Giannis Antetokounmpo by 94-72. These two teams have met many times before, including in two finals of the last four major events. Team USA won both times, but Serbia is still one of the few teams that can really compete against the NBA superstars. Given the odds, Team USA is a -13.5-point favorite in this game, and knowing that they just beat Serbia in a friendly game by 26, they should have no problem covering this spread.
