Nikola Jokic and the Serbian national team bounced back from their heartbreaking defeat to Team USA in the semifinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics by defeating Germany in the bronze medal game on Saturday, 93-83. This is the first Olympic medal for Serbia since 2016, when the team won silver.
Serbia never trailed in the game, thanks largely to the Nuggets superstar, who scored or assisted on four of their first five baskets to get Serbia out to an early lead. Though Serbia was never able to fully pull away, the team kept Germany at an arm's length all day long, and the margin was only briefly within single digits in the second half. Jokic made sure of that with brilliant passes like this one.
The three-time NBA MVP was at his best on Saturday, as he finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists to record the fifth triple-double in Olympic basketball history.
Triple-doubles in the Olympics
| Player | Country | Olympics |
|---|---|---|
Alexander Belov | USSR | Montreal 1976 |
LeBron James | USA | London 2012 |
Luka Doncic | Slovenia | Tokyo 2021 |
LeBron James | USA | Paris 2024 |
Nikola Jokic | Serbia | Paris 2024 |
While the Serbians will always rue their second-half collapse against Team USA in the semifinals, Saturday's win over Germany capped an impressive Olympics for Jokic and Co. Their only two losses came to the Americans and they joined the United States and France as the only countries with multiple medals over the last three Olympics.
Jokic finished the tournament averaging 18.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, 8.7 assists and two steals per game on 53.8% shooting from the field. With the gold medal game still to be played, he is sixth among all players in scoring, first in rebounding, first in assists and tied for second in steals.
With the bronze medal now secure, there's a real chance that Jokic is named Olympics MVP, which has only ever been awarded on two previous occasions -- 2004 (Manu Ginobili) and 2021 (Kevin Durant).