Serbia came back in the second half of Tuesday's Olympic quarterfinals men's basketball game against Australia, thanks a lot to Nikola Jokic.
Australia led by as much as 24 points in the first half, but then Serbia held them to just 11 points in the third quarter to begin a huge comeback.
Serbia was up by two points with nine seconds left in the game, but Australia's Patty Mills hit a jumper with two seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. Serbia ended up winning 95–90 to eliminate Australia from the competition.
Jokic nearly tallied a triple-double in his performance, finishing with 21 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists.
Serbia posted the greatest comeback in Olympics history…from down 24 in the first half…to beat Australia in OT.
— Tim Micallef (@tim_micallef) August 6, 2024
Nikola Jokic had 21, 14, 8 and 4 steals…he also had the Serbian broadcasters laughing in disbelief by the end of it: pic.twitter.com/Qyb4sz1Lr6
Nikola Jokic's DOMINANT performance in #Paris2024 leads Serbia into the semifinals 💪
— NBA (@NBA) August 6, 2024
His near triple-double helped erase a 24-point deficit and secure the OT win!
🇷🇸 21 PTS | 14 REB | 8 AST | 4 STL 🇷🇸 pic.twitter.com/XpSLrFZ6vZ
Team Serbia won all but one game (a loss to the United States) in the group stage of the Paris Olympics.
Serbia is looking to medal for just the second time ever in men's basketball at the Olympics. They previously won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Jokic was also part of that team.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Nikola Jokic’s Huge Game Helps Serbia Rally Back to Beat Australia in OT Thriller.
