From the special reporter "Vijesti"
On Thursday around 19:15, the French basketball players celebrated their place in the final of the Olympic Games with over 30 thousand fans in the "Akor Arena", XNUMX minutes later the celebration spread to the streets of Bersija, where you could see the world in miniature - people with flags and jerseys hosts, the Germans were the fewest, when the moment slowly came to turn attention to the second semi-final pair.
Around 20:XNUMX p.m., the French left and went on to celebrate, and the "Akor arena" and its surroundings were occupied by American tourists who believed that they would attend a new exhibition and work on the way to the final.
There weren't too many Serbian fans at that time because many had already "taken a position" in the hall, probably learned from the experience of the Euroleague and the ABA League, because the Partizan and Crvena Zvezda matches come at least an hour or an hour and a half earlier.
Anyway, the second semi-final of the basketball tournament in Paris will be remembered as one of the best matches in history - the USA against Serbia, which had the game in hand for almost 35 minutes (leading by 17 points in the first half) and which threatened to make a big sensation. It smelled like something that no one could have expected in the City of Light these days...
The tension was huge, and it ended as it was believed it would. The Americans survived, celebrated 95:91 on the wings of Steph Curry, LeBron James and Joel Embiid and came close to a new Olympic gold.
The match itself was incredible. He showed that probably the best team the Americans have ever sent to the Games has a flaw, so Serbia was in control and for a long time looked like a team that was ready in every sense to knock down a giant and direct a miracle of miracles.
If Ognjen Dobrić made an open three-pointer for plus five with two and a half minutes to go, if the referees signaled that Kevin Durent stepped on the outside line before he shot and scored, if steps were awarded to Lebron or if the judging criteria were the same.. It could have been different, so the Serbs were angry after the match, but the reality is that they are preparing for the bronze medal match with the Germans (today at 11 a.m.), not for the gold medal with the host team (21.30:XNUMX p.m.).
- I'm angry because we didn't get respect from the judges. If one of the best players in the world shoots only four free throws in 37 minutes, and if another player only shoots one free throw in 32 minutes... Strange things have happened. I always say to the players: "If you keep quiet, if you don't protest, and at the same time throw yourself on the head and go straight to the gut, they will reward you. We didn't see that and that's one of the reasons for the defeat - said the coach of the Eagles, Svetislav Pešić, while captain Bogdan Bogdanović said that they wanted to "overcome both the Americans and the referees".
Steph Curry was brilliant - with 36 points and nine three-pointers from 14 attempts, James reached a triple-double, and Embiid continued the "war" with the French audience. This round belonged to him, he beat the whistles and scored 19 very important points.
Embid is a special story of this tournament, it is known that the French do not like him because they feel that he betrayed them (he refused the invitation to play for the "tricolors", even though he had allegedly promised to come), so he suffers constant whistles during the Games. It was like that in the group stage in Lille, and it continued in Paris. But now the "hate" is mutual, because now he is the one who has no problem being the first to start provoking the audience.
The Americans are now close to the gold, it is believed that the French can hardly match them, but Steve Kerr was still under the impression of the semi-finals.
- This was one of the best matches I was a part of. Unbelievable - Serbia is a perfect team and played perfectly. We grabbed the last moment to wake up and do enough to win. Now we are one step away from our goal - Kerr pointed out.
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