RIO DE JANEIRO — Serbia did what it had to do in group play to advance, losing to the USA, Australia and France by a combined 19 points and beating Venezuela and China.
But in the knockout round, Serbia beat Croatia, the top team from Group B, in quarterfinals and hammered Australia in the semifinals, advancing to gold-medal game against the USA on Sunday (2:45 p.m. ET)
“When you talk about Serbia, you’re talking about a team with incredible pride, a team that has a tremendous basketball IQ and a team that’s led by a great leader, who happens to be one of its country’s national heroes in coach Sasha Djordjevic,” said international basketball expert Fran Fraschilla who works for EPSN and is analyzing Olympic games for NBA.