It took just over 7 minutes for Team Serbia to defeat Jimmer Fredette and his American teammates in this year’s first U.S. Olympic game of 3×3 mens basketball.
Thousands of fans from around the world watched the first rounds of 3×3 pool play at the Place de la Concorde, the largest outdoor square in Paris, which is also the host of this year’s skateboarding, BMX freestyle, and breaking competitions.
It was a hopeful redemption game for Team USA heading into this match-up after they lost to Serbia in the gold-medal round of the FIBA World Cup last year.
Photo courtesy: Lars Baron/Getty Images
The game started out slow for the star spangled crew. Serbia taking a quick lead 2-1 within the first thirty seconds of the match.
Fredette quickly picked up the pace, draining a two-point shot to put the American’s in the lead after the one minute mark.
A Fredette assist to teammate Kareem Maddox put the Americans two points ahead, but the Serbians quickly evened the score with a key assist from Marko Brankovic to Mikhail Vasic, followed by a Strahinja Stojacic one-point drive.
The game remained neck-and-neck until the clock read 4:50 remaining. Several fouls and turnovers later, the Serbian team amassed a 20-14 lead, ending with a two-point shot from Stojacic.
Fredette had a mild debut, scoring only four points and one rebound in his 6-and-a-half minutes of playing time.
The Serbians went 12/12 on 1 point attempts compared to USA’s 10/16.
Marko Brankovic outscored the rest of the field with 8 points, 3 rebounds, and making all of his seven shots.
Currently ranked second in the world, per FIBA rankings, the Serbian team won a bronze Olympic medal in Tokyo four years ago.
The U.S.A. team overtook Serbia in the world rankings last month after going 5-0 in the Quebec Challenger. The two teams are the top ranked teams in the world.
Eight teams have qualified for the 3×3 tournament. They will play in a red-robin style tournament over the next six days with semi-finals and finals on August 5th.
Team USA will play Poland tomorrow at 2:30 a.m. MDT.
