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France and Serbia will meet in the bronze-medal match of the women's basketball competition in the Tokyo Olympics on Saturday, after both teams stumbled in the last four.
Serbia had the tougher assignment in the semi-final, falling by 20 points to the more experienced USA. France, meanwhile, will have been disappointed not to have beaten Japan, and will look to bounce back by improving their shooting against Serbia.
Serbia will be looking to win their second-straight bronze medal at the Olympic Games, while France will hope to add to their solitary silver won in 2012.
Match Details
Fixture - Serbia vs France | Olympics 2021 Women's Basketball.
Date & Time - Saturday, August 7th, 3:00 AM ET (Saturday, August 7th, 12:30 PM IST).
Venue - Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan.
Serbia Preview
Despite rallying back in the second half, Serbia were up against it after trailing USA 41-23 at half-time. In fact, second-half performances have been a theme of Serbia's knockout fixtures at the Olympics, after their late 12-0 run helped them overcome China in the quarter-final.
Although they have been unable to rack up as many points as France, Serbia have shown the kind of resilience necessary to win an Olympic medal. They have dug in against stiff opposition, and have produced performances belying their eighth ranking in the world.
Three Serbian starters are shooting the three ball above 40%, with Serbia grabbing the second-most rebounds of any team in the tournament. However, to outscore favorites France, Serbia will have to play like there is nothing to lose and look to stifle their opponents in the paint.
Team News: Serbia
Serbia will come into their matchup against France with the same lineup that has featured throughout the tournament.
Power forward Jelena Brooks has outscored her fellow starters, though versatile veteran Sonja Vasic has impressed with her overall game, averaging 9.8 points and 6.4 rebounds so far. Vasic has been efficient on the court, shooting above 40% from the field as well as from downtown.
Serbia, in fact, play with three recognized forwards. Point guard Yvonne Anderson played 26 minutes off the bench against the USA, scoring 15 points. Ana Dabovic will start in the backcourt, with Tina Krajisnik at center and their second power forward Aleksandra Crvendakic.
Serbia Predicted Lineup
Point Guard - Ana Dabovic | Shooting Guard - Sonja Vasic | Small Forward - Aleksandra Crvendakic | Power Forward - Jelena Brooks | Center - Tina Krajisnik.
France Preview
France were unable to defeat hosts Japan at the second time of asking on Friday. So they will be disappointed not to have a shot at tournament favorites USA in the gold-medal match. Nevertheless, they will fancy themselves against a low-scoring Serbian side as they look for only their second medal in Olympic basketball.
Despite their impressive win against a highly-touted Spanish side in the quarter-finals, France saw their shooting accuracy collapse against Japan. They made just 40.8% of their field-goal efforts and shot at 29% from the deep.
At the other end of the floor, where they had held Spain to 64 points, Japan registered more assists, got to the free-throw line more often and racked up 87 points, which was 13 more than they managed in the two teams' group-stage clash.
Team News: France
France are unlikely to change their starting line-up in their pursuit of a bronze medal on Saturday. Led by versatile forward Sandrine Gruda, the French have had the same starters on the court in both their quarter-final and semi-final games.
Gruda has been playing at center, averaging a team-high 13.6 points and 6.2 rebounds while shooting at 62.7% from the field. She will be joined in the French frontcourt by Endene Miyem and LA Sparks forward Gabby Williams. Williams has been particularly impressive in the tournament so far with her all-round ability, averaging 9.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 steals per game.
In the backcourt will be Alix Duchet and Sarah Michel, both of whom will be looking for an improved performance against Serbia after underwhelming in the semi-final.
France Predicted Lineup
Point Guard - Alix Duchet | Shooting Guard - Sarah Michel | Small Forward - Gabby Williams | Power Forward - Endene Miyem | Center - Sandrine Gruda.
Serbia vs France Prediction
With only one medal up for grabs, we can expect this game to be competitive and with players putting everything on the line to be on the podium. Both sides are well accustomed to one another and have faced off in gold-medal matchups before in EuroBasket tournaments, where Serbia prevailed on both occasions.
That makes this match a difficult one to call. While France have a greater array of scoring options, the Serbians' resolute defending could send this contest down to the wire. France, however, are expected to take home the bronze.
Where to watch Serbia vs France?
The Bronze-medal matchup will be broadcast live on NBC, NBC Peacock and NBCOlympics.com. Additionally, various live streaming services providing access to NBC can also be used to live stream the event.
In Europe, fans of both sides can catch the game on Eurosport who have the full broadcasting rights of the Tokyo Olympics.
