Home Entertainment LONELY JOKER: Nikola Jokic created an ‘EFFORT’ performance on the day Serbia was destroyed by USA 105-79

LONELY JOKER: Nikola Jokic created an ‘EFFORT’ performance on the day Serbia was destroyed by USA 105-79

Entertainment — 07/18/2024

It was all even at 28 after one quarter on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi, but that’s as close as Serbia would come to Team USA the rest of the way. The Americans pummeled the Serbians 105-79 in Nikola Jokic and crew’s final exhibition game ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Team USA blows out Serbia in exhibition, Embiid matches up with Jokic

USA took off early in the second quarter then used a 15-0 run around halftime to explode on their European enemies. It was Steph Curry with the starters and Bam Adebayo off the bench leading the charge.

Paris 2024: Curry sizzles in 26-point Team USA romp of Nikola Jokic, Serbia in pre-Olympic tune-up | OneSports.PH

USA smokes Serbia behind Steph Curry, dominant defense | Reuters

The Warriors guard had 24 points on 12 shots, hitting six of his nine threes while the Heat big added 17 points and seven rebounds. Anthony Davis was also terrific, recording seven points, six rebounds and six blocks.  Anthony Edwards had 16 points. LeBron James added 11.

Nikola Jokic had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Serbia. Denver’s star player sat the fourth quarter with the contest already out of competition. Importantly, Bogdan Bogdanovic missed the game and he’s one of Serbia’s most important pieces. But Kevin Durant was also sitting for the contest, so make what you will of the absences’ impact.

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Joker had to put in a lot of effort and his teammates were quite useless. Every time he scores a point, Jokic enthusiastically exhorts his teammates to defend

Despite USA’s roster being littered with Hall of Famers and All-Stars while Serbia doesn’t even have a starting five of NBA players, these are thought to be two of the favorites to take home gold in Paris.

Partially because of the three-time MVP Jokic but also because of a Serbia squad that won silver at the 2023 World Cup of hoops without the Nuggets big man. USA didn’t even medal in that tournament, losing to Canada in the third-place game while having many players on that roster who are part of the Olympic squad.

It’s clear USA may have finally woken up midway through this game against Serbia. The squad trudged through a meeting with Canada last week and barely beat Australia a few days ago.

They’ll take on South Sudan and Germany in London over the weekend ahead of the July 28 meeting with Serbia in group play which tips each team’s Olympic campaign. South Sudan is also in the group as well as Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, Serbia ends its wramp up in a sore spot, losing two games in a row to the Australians and Americans after beating the French last week. Their next game is that game against USA in 11 days.