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[Saba Sports News] Team USA head coach Steve Kerr is concerned Serbia might catch his players off guard in their third matchup in less than a month.
On Wednesday, Kerr warned that the Americans cannot be “lulled to sleep” by Serbia. Team USA previously beat Serbia by 26 points in both a pre-Olympic exhibition and their opening group play game.
“We can’t get lulled to sleep because we beat them twice,” Kerr said, via Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “We have to be prepared for their best effort. We’ve got to think about what they’re going to do differently. (Nikola) Jokic might play 40 minutes. What else do they have up their sleeve?”
In their Olympic matchup, Serbia tied the US during Jokic’s 31 minutes on the court but lost 29-3 in the non-Jokic minutes. Kerr expects Serbia to rely more heavily on Jokic in the must-win semifinal.
Jokic has been dominant since arriving in Paris. The US will have their hands full with him in Thursday’s semifinal but have enough talent to rotate and neutralize him.