Lakers News: LeBron James, USA Basketball Not Looking Past Team Serbia in Olympics

The Americans are gearing up for a fight.

Aug 6, 2024; Paris, France; United States forward LeBron James (6) and forward Jayson Tatum (10) react 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

Playing in his fourth Olympic tournament this summer, 20-time All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers combo forward LeBron James is not taking anything for granted.

The four-time MVP L.A. superstar and the rest of Team USA are slated to face off against three-time league MVP Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic's Team Serbia on Thursday in a do-or-die Olympic semifinal matchup. Team USA massacred Team Brazil during their quarterfinal meeting, 122-87.

According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, James is not looking past Thursday's opposition when it comes to potentially securing a gold medal.

"Every game is its own test. No matter what happened in the first two, it's about what goes down Thursday night," James said. "So we need to lock in our film session, lock in during the day on Thursday, and then come out and be ready to go."

Against Team Brazil, James scored 12 points while shooting a hyper-efficient 5-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-3 from the foul line. He also passed for nine dimes, swiped three steals and grabbed three rebounds.

"We can't get lulled to sleep because we beat them twice," Team USA head coach Steve Kerr said. "We have to be prepared for their best effort. We've got to think about what are they going to do differently. Jokic, I guess he could play 40 minutes. What else do they have up their sleeve?"

In their two previous meetings this summer, Team USA won by 110-84 in a group play encounter on July 28 and 105-79 in an Abu Dhabi exhibition matchup. During the group play meeting, James scored 21 points on 9-fo-13 shooting from the floor (1-of-3 from beyond the arc) and 2-of-2 shooting from the charity stripe, while also passing for nine dimes, grabbing seven boards, and stealing one shot. Jokic scored 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the floor and 3-of-4 shooting from the foul line, passed for eight assists and nabbed five rebounds.

Jokic is averaging 19.3 points on 60 percent shooting, 11.8 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 2.5 steals and 1.0 blocks a night for Serbia. Kerr seems to think Jokic may play as many of the game's 40 minutes as he possibly can in an effort to pull off a monumental upset.

"I guess we'll be ready for that," All-Star Philadelphia 76ers centerJoel Embiid said. Windhorst notes that he is likely to start at the five Thursday. "If that's what they think they have to do to try to beat us, then they won't hesitate to do that."

The victor of Thursday's semifinal matchup will move on to face Team France in the gold medal game. Led by superstar All-Defensive centers Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs and Rudy Gobert of the Minnesota Timberwolves, the French squad took down the reigning 2023 FIBA World Cup champs, Team Germany, in their own semifinal bout.

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