US survives scare from Serbia, 94-91

RIO DE JANEIRO — The vaunted US basketball squad survived a last-second scare from Serbia Friday to win 94-91 in a Rio Olympics contest that exposed its potential vulnerability for a second straight game. With a historic upset brewing, Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a three-pointer with two seconds left to hand the defending champion a grind-it-out victory and plenty to ponder about the fast-flowing international game. Kyrie Irving’s 15 points led six Americans in double figures in a contest that at first looked like a rout thanks to a swarming US defense. But Serbian big men Nikola Jokic — the only team member to earn a living in the NBA — and Miroslav Raduljica brought the underdogs back as the Serbian offense kept finding ways to penetrate. US guard Paul George admitted that the high-priced American talent — who only began playing as a unit a few weeks ago — were still adjusting to international play. The US has won the last three Olympic gold medals and 14 in total. Now at 4-0 in group play, it was already guaranteed of a spot in the knockout phase starting next week. But a loss would have been a stunning first in the Olympics since 2004, and first internationally in a decade. The Serbs came even closer to an upset than medal hopeful Australia, who two days earlier pushed the champion throughout much of a 98-88 American win. The USA defense smothered the Serbs early, forcing eight first-quarter turnovers to jump out to an 18-point advantage. Three straight slam-dunks, two on alley-oops by US centre DeAndre Jordan, made it 23-5 late in the first period, and it appeared NBA showtime had started. The Serbs closed to 50-41 at halftime thanks to 14 first-half points inside by Raduljica, who finished with 18. The 2.09-metre (6-foot-10) Jokic, who is just 21 but expected by many to emerge as a star for the Denver Nuggets, took over in the second half, repeatedly eluding his markers en route to 25 points. The Serbs got it down to 94-91 with a minute to play. The US then missed three shots that could have secured the win, setting up Bogdanovic’s three-point miss. Serbia, now 1-3, must beat 0-4 China Sunday to stay alive for the knockout phase. In other Group A games, Australia routed winless China 93-68, and France did the same to Venezuela, 96-56.