Fans’ hearts were in their mouths for the whole semi-final against Serbia yesterday. With just a few seconds left on the clock, everything the team and fans are celebrating right now, hung in the balance. A few wrong moves or decisions could have led to Team USA’s historic defeat. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Team USA won 95-91 thanks to some memorable performances from their stars and is headed to the gold medal game. Richard Jefferson feels there wasn’t much between the two teams, and this could mean a lot for the next matchup, where Team USA will face hosts France.

This was Team USA’s third matchup against Nikola Jokic’s Team Serbia over the past month, and they managed to win all of them. While the first two were comfortable victories, this game proved to be extremely difficult. While he praised the team for seeing it through, he felt that the USA didn’t do much wrong in the game yesterday. Yet, they had to scratch and claw their way to a win.

Expressing concern about the team, Richard Jefferson said on the Road Trippin podcast, “Stephen Curry was outstanding. Look at LeBron but they’re gonna need some more…that game against France in France it’s going to be intense with the Joel Embiid factor. That game is going to be intense and for anybody that knows, we were 90 seconds away from losing that bad boy.”

He believes that the Olympics hosts with the crowd cheering for them could prove to be as difficult a test as Serbia. “People can say we won but you still got to look at it. It was like we were two shots away from not and I think France has a chance to be even more competitive. Like in the same field, I’m not saying more, they have the chance to have the same type of game that Serbia had,” he said. 

The tension was palpable on the screen, and the NBA experts certainly wouldn’t have missed it. However, making a comeback from a 17-point deficit and rallying to a win was remarkable. Stephen Curry had 36 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the field, including 9 threes, while Joel Embiid contributed 19 points. Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James had a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. 

Following the win, James and Curry were seen in an emotional interaction where they relished the sweet victory. Coming off the bench, Kevin Durant also added 9 points. The question is whether Team USA will be able to maintain a similar dominance against Team France as well. 

France can prove to be a tough battle against Team USA

Team Canada, which had previously proven to be quite formidable against Team USA in the FIBA World Cup, featured some of the toughest and most elite NBA role players such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jamal Murray, Dillon Brooks, and more. Despite their strong performance, they were defeated 82-73 by France. Shai delivered 27 points, but it wasn’t enough to overcome France and Guerschon Yabusele, who led with 20 points. 

They repeated the heroics against the World Champions Germany in the semis, beating them 73-69, thanks to some solid defense. The stakes are higher than ever for the USA with a roster featuring some of the best players in the NBA. In the Tokyo Olympics, the USA won the gold medal with an 87-82 win against France in the final.

The hosts will be looking to avoid another defeat, especially with the added tension surrounding Joel Embiid. Embiid, who previously expressed interest in playing for France, ultimately decided to play for Team USA because of his son. If the semifinals made you nervous, saddle up, as Richard Jefferson stated, the final is going to be even wilder.

Stay tuned for more such updates and join us for the exciting second episode of the “Dual Threat Show” as our host BG12 sits down with Georgia Bulldogs star and Mountain West All-Freshman Team Selection, Asia Avinger.