The USA launched their Paris Olympics campaign with a 110-84 win against Serbia. The Americans will play the same team in the semifinal clash of the Games. One man standing between the US and the final spot will undoubtedly be Nikola Jokic.

The US head coach Steve Kerr admitted they have to be on their toes against Serbia as they can make them pay if they get complacent. 

“We can’t get lulled to sleep because we beat them twice,” Kerr said. “We have to be prepared for their best effort. We’ve got to think about what are they going to do differently. Jokic, I guess he could play 40 minutes. What else do they have up their sleeve?”

Jokic is a three-time MVP and an NBA champion and Kerr and co. know what the talismanic Serbian can bring to the court. The linchpin leads Serbia in points (19.3), rebounds (11.8), assists (7.5), steals (2.5) and blocks (1.0) per game. He’s also shooting 60%.

Meanwhile, Serbia made a resounding comeback in the quarterfinal against Australia despite being 24 points down at one stage and registered a 95-90 win in overtime. Jokic made a lot of difference as Serbia were plus-17 when he was on the court but they were minus-12 when he sat down on the bench.

“I guess we’ll be ready for that,” said Joel Embiid, who is likely to get the start against Jokic. “If that’s what they think they have to do to try to beat us, then they won’t hesitate to do that.”

LeBron James said the past is past and they will need to come up with a collective show against Serbia on Thursday.

“Every game is its own test. No matter what happened in the first two, it’s about what goes down Thursday night,” LeBron James said. “So we need to lock in our film session, lock in during the day on Thursday, and then come out and be ready to go.”