Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves disclosed the wacky circumstances he was in when he watched his teammates in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, as well as the rest of Team USA, mount a comeback against Serbia in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Austin Reaves said he was so into the USA comeback over Serbia this summer – featuring LeBron and Steph – he pulled over on the side of the road to watch the ending on his phone pic.twitter.com/uPoKkT3Mcv
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 14, 2024
“I was goin’ to golf, and I looked at the score and it was like — I was watchin’ it here actually, and I was leavin’ to go golf,” Reaves said when reflecting on what he was doing at the time of the matchup. “And I looked at the score and it was like 10 or eight or somethin’ at the time. I stopped on the side of the road, basically in the middle of traffic, watched the game. I watched the Serbia game on the side of the road and watched the France game back home with my family.
“But it was just — I forgot who I texted. The Serbia game, the fourth quarter was some of the best basketball that I’d ever watched. Everybody was locked in defensively. I think it was other than a couple offensive rebounds that Serbia got it was almost a perfect fourth quarter for the USA team. So, just seein’ those guys buy in to one goal — and that was winning — it was beautiful, ’cause that’s kinda how I approach everything. The main thing is to win, and you could just see that that was — the goal was to go win gold.”
Team USA’s pursuit of a gold medal was in serious jeopardy heading into the final frame of its semifinal game against Serbia, which was led by none other than three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
At the end of three, Team USA trailed by 13 points. The squad couldn’t find much rhythm on the offensive end of the floor, as the United States scored under 25 points in each of the opening three quarters.
Team USA arguably looked even worse defensively before the fourth quarter. Despite the notion that the roster was comprised of some of the best defenders in the sport such as Davis and Bam Adebayo, Serbia torched the United States for 31 points in the first quarter alone and 76 through the first three frames.
But the United States redeemed itself for its slow start on both sides of the ball against Jokic and company by locking in for the entire fourth quarter.
Team USA went on a scoring outburst across the last 10 minutes of the game. The United States scored 32 points in the fourth quarter, while Serbia mustered just 15 during that span.
Defensively, the United States did a great job at limiting Serbia’s offensive potency from 3-point range in the latter stages of the game as well. Serbia finished the game with 15 made 3s but all of those makes came in the first three quarters, as the team missed all nine of its shots from deep in the fourth.
Perhaps Reaves will be able to represent the United States in the Olympics at some point during his NBA career. Interestingly, the 2028 Olympics are scheduled to be held in Los Angeles, which just so happens to be the home of Reaves’ current team in the Lakers.
