PARIS– When it was all over, Bogdan Bogdanovic raised his fist and jumped high as his teammates celebrated at midcourt and Serbian flags waved wildly in the Bercy Arena stands.
Less than 40 hours after suffering one of the most painful defeats in its history, Serbia found its way back to the Olympic medal podium.
Nikola Jokic produced the fifth triple-double in Olympic history and Serbia beat Germany 93-83 on Saturday to win the men’s basketball bronze medal at the Paris Games.
Jokic finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists as Serbia won its first medal in the sport since winning silver in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The Serbs recovered and beat the world champions later almost disturbing the four-time gold medal-winning USA team in the semifinals.
“This bronze shines like gold for us,” said Vasilije Micic, who scored 19 points.
Jokic joined Sasha Belov, from the former Soviet Union, American star LeBron James (twice) and Slovenian Luka Doncic as the only players with Olympic triple-doubles.
Bogdanovic, who finished with 16 points, credited 74-year-old Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic with helping the team turn the page after absorbing the disappointment of the U.S. defeat.
“He gave us a great speech even after that game,” Bogdanovic said. “He maintained the team spirit. … Even though we lost, we had the same mentality. It was difficult to sleep. We didn’t sleep that day or that night. But the next day he was ready for a meeting. The same meeting we’ve had all year. We play together, we win together, we lose together.”
Saturday’s game was a repeat of last year’s FIBA World Cup final, but with a different result. Serbia led this game, building a lead of up to 19 points in the third quarter.
Franz Wagner had 19 points to lead Germany and Mortiz Wagner added 16.
“We are still one of the best teams in the world. That’s what I believe,” said Germany captain Dennis Schroder. “But basketball sometimes doesn’t go your way, and sports in general don’t go your way.”
Germany coach Gordon Herbert, who will leave the national team after the Olympics, after signing an agreement to become the coach of FC Bayern Munich of the EuroLeague was proud of this team’s trajectory.
“It’s not the ending we wanted, but these guys have had heart and soul for three years,” Herbert said.
The World Cup victory was part of a 12-game winning streak in major international competitions for the Germans, who won their first four games in Paris to reach the semi-finals. But they lost the last two, also falling to hosts France in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Germany made a late push late in the fourth quarter, cutting Serbia’s lead to 82-74 on a Wagner layup. Serbia responded with an 11-4 run to get back above double digits.
Serbia led 46-38 at halftime, quickly getting off Jokic with 10 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Germany got nine first-half points from Franz Wagner and Schroder, but shot just 33% from the field (10 of 33) and turned it over seven times.
Serbia shot 52% (16 of 31) and dominated inside, outscoring their rivals 20-6 in the paint.
Bogdanovic said Serbia are not worried about repeating last year’s World Cup history.
“We had more confidence. We know what Nikola is bringing to us,” Bogdanovic said. “We continue playing team basketball. We continued to play our way. And we are not afraid. Our mentality, our mentality, we had a great tournament and we wanted to close it with a victory.”
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