Mark Zeigler: It took being down 17 for Team USA to show us its true colors

PARIS — LeBron James grabbed the rebound and chucked the multicolored basketball toward the Bercy Arena ceiling as the buzzer sounded.

Stephen Curry couldn’t stop flexing and screaming, “Yeahhhhh!!!!!.”

Kevin Durant kept pumping his fists in the air.

Joel Embiid and Anthony Edwards danced.

Scenes of jubilation.

Scenes of sheer, utter relief.

Team USA beat Serbia, 95-91, in the semifinals of the Olympic men’s basketball tournament to advance to Saturday’s final against host France.

But really, it was that it didn’t lose, because Team USA isn’t allowed to, not with its basketball pedigree, not with a roster that has accumulated eight MVP awards and 15 NBA titles and that Serbia’s 74-year-old coach insists is better than the 1992 Dream Team with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.

That team won its eight Olympic games by an average of 44 points.

That team was never pushed, though. That team was never down 17 in the first half, down 13 after three quarters, still down 11 with 7:19 to go.

That team was never scared.

“That was dicey for most of the night,” said coach Steve Kerr, whose team trailed for more than 35 minutes. “I was probably not as calm as I pretended to be.”

“I’ve seen a lot of Team USA basketball,” Curry said, “and that was special.”

For 32 1/2 minutes, they fulfilled every stereotype of the lazy, entitled, unmotivated, uninspired group that was here only so their wives could shop while their egos were stroked by archers and fencers and trampoline gymnasts scrambling to take selfies with them on the occasion they emerged from their 5-star hotel.

During the Serbian anthem before tip-off, with the Serbs locked arm in arm, standing erect, belting out the words, eyes moist with pride, the Americans milled about. Edwards looked like he was having a conversation. Devin Booker spun around, away from the flags, and scanned the crowd. James swayed and stared at the ground.

They didn’t pay much more attention during “The Star Spangled Banner.”

They didn’t pay much attention, either, to the intricate offensive sets of a team it beat by 26 in each of its two previous meetings this summer, not getting into an active defensive stance, routinely going under ball screens to surrender open 3s, not closing out, not blocking out, not chasing loose balls. On offense, one guy went one-on-one while four guys stood and watched. They missed shots. Turned it over and gave up easy baskets in transition. Fouled shooters.

And Serbia couldn’t miss.

The first quarter became the second quarter became the third quarter became the fourth quarter. Serbia was still up 11. This wasn’t trailing Canada 11-1 in the first pre-Olympic exhibition in Las Vegas. This wasn’t being down 16 in the second quarter against South Sudan in another exhibition.

This was Serbia and three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic. This was the fourth quarter. This was the semifinals of bracket play, not a best-of-seven series. This was a 40-minute game, not 48.

Tick, tick, tick…

This was serious.

“Serbia was brilliant today,” Kerr said. “They were perfect. They played a perfect game. … They forced us to reach the highest level of competition that we could find.”

And that’s just it. Fear drew it out of them. Potential, magically, became performance.

Curry, after a quiet tournament and attempting only three shots against Brazil in the quarterfinals, took 19 and finished with 36 points (17 in the first quarter), the second most by a U.S. men’s Olympic player behind Carmelo Anthony’s 37 in 2012.

Kevin Durant, scoreless in the first half, made a 3 from the right wing while Antony Davis was fouled by Jokic fighting through his screen. That allowed the Americans to retain possession, and Booker drained another 3 off the ensuing inbounds play — two seconds, six points.

Embiid, booed every time he touched the ball by French fans angry the dual national didn’t play for them, had his best game of the Olympics with 19 points.

James stopped complaining after every whistle and had a triple-double (16 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists) while guarding the bigger Jokic down the stretch.

And Kerr stopped coaching this like an All-Star Game, distributing minutes like juice boxes, and stuck with the same five for the final 7:19, feelings be damned.

Score over the final 7:19: 28-13.

The 11-point halftime deficit is the largest overcome by a U.S. team since it began sending pros to the Olympics in 1992.

“One of the greatest basketball games I’ve ever been a part of,” Kerr said. “We knew coming into this tournament that there’s always going to be a game like this. It’s the Olympics, FIBA, 40 minutes, one game and you’re out. You’re not going to breeze through this tournament. You have to be able to maintain your poise.

“That’s what impressed me the most in the second half, the poise of our guys combined with the competitive spirit to get it done.”

“Perseverance, hard work, dedication,” James said. “Big-time win for us.”

Perseverance, hard work, dedication … and abject fear.