Jokic inspires Serbia to overtime victory against Australia

By Sports Desk August 06, 2024

Serbia completed the biggest comeback in Olympic basketball history as they defeated Australia 95-90 in overtime.

Nikola Jokic had 21 points as Serbia overturned a 24-point deficit in Tuesday's quarter-final tie.

Adding to his points tally, Jokic also registered 14 rebounds and eight assists. Team-mate Bogdan Bogdanovic was also on form and finished with 17 points, five rebounds, and six assists.

While Australia had led by 24 points after 13 minutes, a stellar third quarter from Serbia saw them rally to lead.

Tokyo 2020 bronze medallists Australia edged the fourth quarter to force the first overtime of the competition at 78-78 but Jokic's Serbia proved too strong in OT.

They will face either the reigning Olympic champions United States or Brazil in the semis.

On the other side of the draw, Germany overcame Giannis Antetokounmpo's Greece 76-63 to reach their first-ever Olympic semi-finals.

The World Cup champions remain unbeaten in the competition despite Antetokounmpo's 22 points.

Franz Wagner’s 20 points helped the Germans overturn a 12-point deficit to line up a semi-final with the winner of France versus Canada.

"I think it speaks to our maturity," Wagner said. "We even talked about it at half-time, not everything's going to go perfect all the time.

"So you kind of recover from that and adjust and react. I thought we did a good job of responding."

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