Team USA planning on playing three big men to stop Serbia’s Nikola Jokic in semifinal

Team USA is preparing to face Serbia this Thursday as part of the Olympic Games semifinal and believe to have the correct formula to defeat Nikola Jokic. The thing is, the European center doesn’t have players around like Jamal Murray anymore, and can only rely on NBA players such as Bogdon Bogdanovic.

The truth is that they’ve played average this competition so far. Not only have their already lost to the United States twice this summer, but they’ve had a difficult road in general, as Serbia needed overtime to beat Australia in the Olympic quarterfinals, after coming down from a 24-point deficit.

Coach Steve Kerr feels optimistic about defeating them a third time. “We can’t get lulled to sleep because we beat them twice,” the Warriors tactician said as a warning. “Does Jokic play 40 minutes? What else do they have up their sleeve? We have to be prepared for anything.”

Draymond Green doesn’t agree with the opinion that Serbia is the biggest threat to Team USA 🗣️🇷🇸 #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/KEKOx7dpRQ

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Also, the U.S, men’s head coach knows that if he plays all of his three All-Star big men, they will eventually wear Jokic down. We are talking about Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo. “We know we have the advantage in numbers,” Kerr said.

The American centers have suffered greatly against Nikola in the NBA, but all three together? “Obviously he’s a tough cover,” Davis acknowledged. “But we have three bigs who just keep rotating and make it tough for him. We’ll give him a steady diet. Each of us offer a different look, different size. He’ll have to deal with that.”

While AD can defend the perimeter, Embiid can size up against the NBA’s current MVP, and Adebayo can use his versatility and quickness. While at it, the squad has enough talented guards to deal with the rest.

“We have a lot of scoring guards,” the Lakers star said. “We really don’t need to do that. Our job as bigs is to do the jobs we’re built to do. We give the guards second-chance opportunities with rebounds, blocks, just do our part. Just being aggressive and being dominant.”

Embiid was criticized after his group-stage performances with Team USA but recently proved himself in victory against Brazil

First it was Charles Barkley, who said that Joel Embiid wasn’t in shape and was yet to dominate in the Olympics with what the TNT analyst called “the best teammates he’s ever had,” around him. However, in the quarterfinal match against Brazil, the Sixers superstar finally showed his true colors and proved his dominancy.

“You saw it against Puerto Rico, against Brazil,” Davis said after defeating the South American team by an impressive 35-point margin. “He came out ready to play. The crowd was booing him, but he embraces it and we embrace it for him. It sparks our team.”

Now that the American players are aware of their game plan against Serbia, AD is convinced that the roster has enough weapons so that everyone can do their specific job and earn the win collectively. “It’s good that we can offer that kind of help,” the center shared. “When we have two bigs on the floor, that bothers him a little bit. We’ll game plan and be ready.”

This is precisely what Embiid is ready to deliver: just do what big men do. “We want to make sure we’re locked in and follow the plan,” expressed the Philadelphia star in their pregame conference. “We want to do what the three of us are designed to do.”