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Olympics: Can Serbia’s “Big Four” Shock the World And Win Gold Medal?

By Matthew Medley

Aug 19, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The Serbia bench reacts in the game against Australia during the men's basketball semifinals in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Carioca Arena 1. Mandatory Credit: Dan Powers-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 19, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The Serbia bench reacts in the game against Australia during the men's basketball semifinals in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Carioca Arena 1. Mandatory Credit: Dan Powers-USA TODAY Sports /
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Serbia is a heavy underdog in the 2016 Rio Olympics gold medal game against the United States, but its four star players have carried the team this far. Can they do the unthinkable?

Aug 19, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The Serbia bench reacts in the game against Australia during the men’s basketball semifinals in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Carioca Arena 1. Mandatory Credit: Dan Powers-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 19, 2016; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; The Serbia bench reacts in the game against Australia during the men’s basketball semifinals in the Rio 2016 Summer Olympic Games at Carioca Arena 1. Mandatory Credit: Dan Powers-USA TODAY Sports /

Few could have predicted that Serbia (4-3) would reach the 2016 Rio Olympic Men’s Basketball final. However, the underdog team has fought hard every step of the way and earned its rightful place in the gold medal game against the United States.

Serbia started out the tournament with a dominating win over Venezuela, but lost its next three games against tough opponents. The Serbs fell 95-80 to Australia, but it was a close game for the first 38 minutes before the Boomers pulled away late.

Serbia lost to France by one point in its next contest and lost by three to the U.S.

Although those three losses were somewhat disappointing, the fact that the team held its own against those top three teams in Group A was encouraging, especially for a young group with no Olympic experience.

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Serbia dominated China to reach the knockout stage as the fourth seed with a 2-3 record, but had to go up against the top seed from Group B: Croatia.

Croatia had a slight edge coming into the game, given its impressive wins over Spain, Brazil and Lithuania, but Serbia’s four star players delivered in the clutch, holding on to win 86-83.

Serbia advanced to play Australia, who was 5-1 coming into the semifinals. The Boomers had every right to be confident, but it appears they may have overlooked the scrappy Serbs, who shocked the basketball world and dominated Australia by a score of 87-61.

Serbia held Australia to just five points in the first quarter and 14 total points in the first half.

Although Serbia was viewed as one of the better teams in the field, few could have predicted a landslide victory over the Aussies. The Serbs made it this far largely due to the play of their stars.

Although the Serbian team, as a whole, moves the ball beautifully, has great chemistry, and plays an unselfish brand of basketball, when it comes to scoring, it’s been Serbia’s “Big Four” doing the bulk of the damage.

Let’s meet Serbia’s four stars.

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