Serbia spoils Olympic debut for Jimmer Fredette, men's 3x3 basketball team

PARIS — Place de la Concorde, where Marie Antoinette lost her head during the French Revolution, has been an important Parisian landmark for 250 years. 

On Tuesday, Jimmer Fredette transported everyone watching the Team USA men’s 3x3 basketball team’s Olympic debut to 2011.

Fredette dribbled, stepped back, executed a crossover between his legs and nailed a two-pointer (a three in traditional basketball) to give the Americans a 3-2 lead in the first minute of the game against Serbia. 

He might as well have been wearing a No. 32 BYU jersey. 

But that was the lone time he fired from deep. Unfortunately for Fredette and the USA, the shot and Kareem Maddox’s dunk – off a pass from Fredette – were the highlights of the game for them in a 22-14 loss to the top-ranked Serbians in the first game of pool play at the Paris Olympics. 

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The Olympic rhythm was different from the other 3x3 tournaments he has played in, Fredette said. 

“It’s good to be able to see that, feel that crowd, feel that energy, what it’s going to be like,” Fredette told USA TODAY Sports following the loss. “(Serbia) just did a better job than us of executing their game plan.”

Fredette finished with four points, two on that first shot and a pair of layups. But he didn’t score over the final four minutes of the game that lasted less than the 10-minute time limit because Serbia reached 21 points first. 

The U.S. has five more games in the round-robin preliminary before the elimination rounds begin. The USA plays Poland on Wednesday. 

For the Americans’ first basket, Fredette found Canyon Barry – son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry – on a slick pass for a layup 13 seconds into the game. He finished with three assists and was 2-for-4 from one-point range, both of those makes being layups. The first came on a spin move to the baseline for a right-hand finish. The second was a drive through the paint for an easy score. 

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Serbia has won six of the eight men's World Cups and finished as runners-up in 2014. The country's team also won bronze at the Tokyo Games three years ago, while the U.S. men's team failed to qualify for that Olympics.

The U.S. couldn’t hang with Serbia’s physicality and dealt with foul trouble, which is a death sentence in 3x3, Fredette said.

“We have a lot more to go,” he said.

Fredette attended the opening ceremony and said being surrounded by the best athletes in the world is “something you dream about as a kid.” 

“Obviously, it’s amazing to do that,” Fredette said, “and now hopefully we can play better and finish the job here.”

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