Stephen Curry scored 36 points, including the late goal that put them ahead, and the United States men’s basketball team overcame a 13-point deficit with a quarter to go and pulled past Serbia in the final moments on Thursday to advance to the gold medal game at the Paris Olympics with a 95-91 victory.
In the tournament final, host France will face the Americans.
Kevin Durant of the Phoenix Suns, who didn’t score a point in the first half, and Devin Booker, who had just three points at halftime, came in to cut the lead when it mattered most, playing the crucial minutes in the closing stages with LeBron James, Joel Embiid and Curry.
Durant and then Booker hit two three-pointers in a row with seven minutes left in the game, cutting the deficit from 78-67 to 78-73. A minute later, Durant tied it with another jump shot, increasing the lead to 80-75.
A layup by LeBron James with 3:39 left tied the game at 84-84, and a three-pointer by Curry with 2:24 left gave the Americans the final lead. James finished with a triple-double of 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.
Durant finished with nine points and needed a long two-point jump shot with less than a minute left to extend the U.S. lead to four.
Joel Embiid, who struggled at the Olympics, had his best performance yet as a member of the US team, scoring 19 points and making 8 of 11 shots from the field, attacking Serbia from mid-range.
Serbia led 76-63 after the third quarter and 54-43 after the first half, which featured a zone defense the Americans hadn’t seen much of during their run in France. Serbia hit 54% of its shots in the first half and 10 of 19 threes, which accounted for more than half of its shooting percentage.
Curry scored 20 points in the first half to keep Team USA afloat, but the rest of the United States managed a total of 8 of 21 points in the first half.
