It got scary for a while, but the United States men’s basketball team can exhale.
After trailing by as many as 17, the United States pulled off a miraculous fourth-quarter comeback to advance to its fourth straight gold medal game, beating Serbia, 95-91.
The U.S. trailed by 13 entering the fourth and was on the the brink of a huge upset, but it quickly cut the deficit to five with just over seven minutes to go.
Then, the U.S. took over. After both teams exchanged baskets, back-to-back buckets by Joel Embiid brought the United States back to within two with just over four minutes to go. And a tough layup by LeBron James knotted it at 84 with 3:39 to go.
Serbia regained the lead, but Stephen Curry dropped his ninth three-pointer to put the U.S. up one. James then made a reverse layup to make it a three-point USA lead, and Curry matched it with his own, going coast-to-coast to put the Americans up 91-86 with 1:41 to go.
The game turned on a 14-2 run by the Americans.
