Team USA blows out Serbia to open Olympics, with Heat well-represented. How did Bam and Jovic do?

As basketball players from all over the world represent their countries in the Olympics, the Miami Heat is also represented on the Olympic stage.

With Team USA’s men’s basketball team opening the 2024 Olympics against Serbia on Sunday, the game featured the only two current Heat players taking part in the Paris Games: Heat center Bam Adebayo is on Team USA’s roster and Heat forward Nikola Jovic is on Serbia’s roster.

Bam Adebayo enters Olympics with opportunity to win second gold medal and make Heat history

Team USA dominated the contest, beginning the group phase of the Olympics with a 110-84 blowout win over Serbia on Sunday in Lille, France. Kevin Durant (23 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field and 5-of-5 shooting on threes) and LeBron James (21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists) led the way for Team USA.

Adebayo, who is making his second appearance in the Olympics after winning a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, finished with four points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field and 0-of-2 shooting on threes, two rebounds, two assists while posting a positive plus/minus of plus nine in 20 minutes of Team USA’s bench. His only points came on a midrange fadeaway jumper late in the third quarter and an open dunk off a cut to the basket early in the fourth quarter, but Adebayo’s best work came on the defensive end with the task of guarding three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic for a chunk of his minutes.

Jovic finished his Olympics debut with five points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field, 1-of-5 shooting on threes and 2-of-2 shooting from the foul line, two rebounds, one assist and one steal in 14 minutes off Serbia’s bench after recently returning from an ankle injury suffered last month during an offseason workout in Miami. Jovic spent most of minutes on Sunday with LeBron James as his matchup on both ends of the court, but he also spent some time on Adebayo.

While the 27-year-old Adebayo has already won a gold medal and is a three-time NBA All-Star, Jovic is not as experienced.

But the Olympics are a continuation of a productive few months for the 21-year-old Jovic, as he prepares for his third NBA season. Jovic, who was selected by Miami with the 27th overall pick in the first round of the 2022 draft, is playing in his first Olympics after moving into a full-time starting role for the Heat midway through last season.

By the end of Jovic’s second NBA season, he started more regular-season games for the Heat than any other player his age or younger in franchise history. Jovic, who started in his final 26 appearances of the regular season, started 38 games for the Heat this past regular season before starting in each of the Heat’s five playoff games this season.

In addition to Adebayo and Jovic, the Heat is represented in the 2024 Olympics by head coach Erik Spoelstra, who is serving as an assistant on Team USA’s coaching staff. Also, retired Heat legend Dwyane Wade is the color commentator on NBC’s broadcast crew for all of Team USA’s games during the Paris Olympics.

As Team USA’s men’s basketball team looks to win the gold medal for the fifth straight Olympics and Serbia’s men’s basketball team looks to earn its second-ever Olympic medal, what is the Olympic competition format?

With 12 countries taking part in the men’s basketball tournament during the Paris Olympics, they have been split into three four-team groups.

Sunday marked the first of three games during the group phase for both Team USA and Serbia. The other two countries in their group are South Sudan and Puerto Rico, with each team playing the other three teams in its group once during this stage of the tournament.

Team USA’s two remaining games during the group phase are on Wednesday against South Sudan (3 p.m., NBC) and Saturday against Puerto Rico (11:15 a.m., NBC).

Serbia’s two remaining games during the group phase are on Wednesday against Puerto Rico (11:15 a.m.) and Saturday against South Sudan (3 p.m.).

All group phase games are being played in Lille, France — just outside of Paris.

At the end of the 12-team group phase, eight countries will advance to the knockout rounds that will all be played in Paris. Those eight teams are the top two teams in each of the three groups and the two best third-place teams.

From there, the tournament moves to Paris and follows a single-elimination format. The eight teams that advance past the group phase will play in the quarterfinals on Aug. 6 before the final four teams play in the semifinals on Aug. 8.

In the semifinal round, the two winners advance to the gold medal game and the two losers play in the bronze medal game. The bronze and gold medal games will take place on Aug. 10.