Jokic leads incredible comeback, sets up battle with USA for medal

Nikola Jokic and Serbia will likely get a third chance to topple Team USA, thanks to an unbelievable comeback on Tuesday against Australia in the quarterfinal of the 2024 Olympics, winning 95-90 in overtime.

An extremely hot Patty Mills pushed Australia on a wild 20-0 run in the first half where the veteran NBA guard scored 14 of those. The Boomers hit 20 of their first 25 shots and utilized that run where Jokic was mostly off the floor to take a huge 44-20 early lead.

But the Serbs came storming back, cutting the deficit in half just a few minutes later going into halftime and then taking a lead headed into the fourth quarter. Serbia’s punch back to the 24-point Australia lead? A 51-21 run charged by Jokic.

The two teams fought down the wire with Serbia having multiple chances to land a death punch in the final moments, but Jokic couldn’t get a touch. He did make a massive impact though. With 35 seconds left and his team up one, the Nuggets center stopped a probing Mills and cleaned up the miss. Jokic then threw Vasilije Micic a late pass which earned him free throws. He split the pair, moving Serbia’s lead to two.

Mills got Jokic isolated again coming out of the timeout with less than 10 seconds left and this time the guard deked for an open make to send the game to overtime tied at 82.

The fight stayed on in overtime with the Aussies jumping out to a small lead. But two steals and a block, plus knocking a shot off the rim (allowed in FIBA) by Jokic set up his offense in crunch time. In the final minute of overtime, he hit a spinning hook to take the lead then a Sombor Shuffle to extend it to three. Serbia was able to ice it from there.

“SOMBOR SHUFFLE BABYYYY” pic.twitter.com/TpoQx1Rt9u

— Serbian Basketball (@srbijabasket) August 6, 2024

Mills finished with 26 points on 11-of-21 shooting after 20 in the first, slowed by Aleksa Avramovic in the second half.

The three-time NBA MVP had an all-timer, completing his day with 21 points, 14 rebounds, eight assists, four steals and a block on 9-of-18 shooting.

Team USA’s quarterfinal comes later on Tuesday, where the Americans are a giant favorite against Brazil. Serbia, who were among the favorites in this tournament and finished better than USA in last summer’s World Cup, has been pounded by the Americans twice in the last few weeks. First, the teams met in an exhibition where USA won 105-79, then the two squared off the in the Olympic opener where Serbia was bested 110-84 in group play. Serbia against USA should be played on Thursday at 1 p.m. Denver time. The winner of Serbia-USA will play for Gold and the loser will fight for Bronze.