Lakers News: LeBron James Talks Historic Olympic Stat Line vs Team Serbia

King James had a night to remember, although Team USA almost had a night to forget, in the semifinals.

Aug 6, 2024; Paris, France; United States guard LeBron James (6) reacts with the bench in the first half against Brazil in a men’s basketball quarterfinal game during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports / Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers superstar forward LeBron James had a night to remember against Team Serbia during Team USA's hard-fought 95-91 semifinal round victory Thursday night. The Americans now move on to face off against San Antonio Spurs All-Defensive center Victor Wembanyama and the rest of Team France's formidable front line in the gold medal game.

Led by three-time Denver Nuggets MVP Nikola Jokic and Atlanta Hawks sixth man shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, Team Serbia put up an offensive clinic early. At one point in the first half, Team Serbia led by as many as 17 points. Thanks to a little U.S. mini-run, Team Serbia closed out the half up "only" 11 points, 54-43. A fourth quarter scoring barrage (the Americans outscored Serbia 32-15) keyed by James, Joel Embiid, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant helped the U.S. stave off utter disaster.

James notched 16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in the winning effort. Per Basket News, it's only the fourth triple-double in Olympic basketball history. James is also the only player to score two triple-doubles in the Olympic games. He previously notched an 11-point, 14-rebounds, 12-assist triple-double against Australia in 2012.

During a postgame interview with NBC Sports sidelined reporter Zora Stephenson, James reflected on notching that historic stat line.

"Whatever role that the team needed me to play. I understand I've got to do a little bit of everything, so Chef had it going offensively, Joel like I said chipped in, so it's my job to keep finding those guys, try to clean glass, and score a little bit from time to time," James said.

LeBron James postgame interview after Team USA defeated Serbia 95-91 to advance to the Gold Medal game vs. France pic.twitter.com/05SBufvO4l

— Hunter De Siver (@HunterDeSiver) August 8, 2024

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When asked about the Americans' hard-scrabble victory, James conceded that Team USA had expected Serbia to be a tough out.

"Gotta get it the hard way. You know, we were switching it the whole fourth quarter. Beating a team three times [the U.S. previously had defeated Serbia during a warm-up game as well as the group play round] in the last three weeks... we knew was going to be difficult, we knew Serbia was going to give us everything they had. Kudos to Serbia, but we came through. Chef Curry with a vintage Chef Curry game. Joel was big-time for us, and we needed it."

Curry scored 36 points on 12-of-19 shooting (9-of-14 from deep), one point shy of Carmelo Anthony's all-time single-game Olympic scoring record. He had had an underwhelming run heading into the game.

"It was only a matter of time before he had one of these games," James said of Curry's big night. "It was a perfect time for Chef to come out and do what he did."

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