Subhi Agrawal
Team USA faces Serbia again in the 2024 Paris Olympic semifinal. Some worry about the upset potential of the Nikola Jokic-led squad. However, Golden State Warriors veteran forward Draymond Green believes Serbia’s top guards can’t match the Americans’ reserve guards, making Serbia a non-threat.
The Team United States is on fire
The United States is on fire, they have taken their unbeaten record to the final four and need just two more wins to pick up their fifth consecutive gold medal.
As of now, the U.S. has cruised through three group-phase games and its quarterfinal matchup against Brazil, winning each contest by 17-plus points, including a 110-84 blowout victory over Serbia to open group play on July 28. However, many refuse to exclude Jokic, a three-time NBA MVP, after he led the Serbians to a 24-point comeback against Australia in the quarterfinals.
“They don’t have the play around Joker to be able to compete”
In an episode of “The Draymond Green Show,” Green dismissed the notion that Serbia can challenge Team USA, saying how the Americans’ 12th man, Tyrese Haliburton, would be the precise best guard on Serbia’s roster.
“That doesn’t work because they have Joker, no question. But they don’t have a guard that can compete with Tyrese Haliburton,” Green said. “That is zero disrespect to Tyrese Haliburton, but Tyrese Haliburton has been the guard out of the rotation [for] Team USA.
“Tyrese Haliburton is an All-Star guard, now two-time All-Star, he’s gonna continue to be an All-Star. … If Serbia had Hali, a different story, they could compete more. They don’t have the guard play, they don’t have the play around Joker to be able to compete,” he continued.
Jokic will likely have to carry his squad on his back
Serbia’s NBA role players Bogdan Bogdanovic and Vasilije Micic have been the most talented guards. However, their accomplishments in the league were less in comparison to Haliburton. Meanwhile, Team USA has several other talented NBA guards, including Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, and Jrue Holiday.
Therefore, Jokic will likely have to shoulder the burden to make up for his team’s significant backcourt talent disadvantage.
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