The refereeing controversy shrouded the USA-Serbia nail-biter too, after the allegedly “rigged” Canada-France quarter-final. Though it was not clearly visible in the game, Serbia’s captain Bogdan Bogdanovic pulled it into the light in his post-game interview. It was a different experience for Nikola Jokic and Co. against Team USA, who was once trailing by 17 points. More of an attempt to meddle with their playing style by catching them on both ends. We know it was a tough loss for the Serbians. But was it a scripted victory?

After the close matchup, even moments with a little confusion seemed biased to Bogdan, as he confessed, “We tried to talk to them; they didn’t try to talk to us. They just walked away. But it’s ok. The USA doesn’t need that type of help against us. You know, we didn’t have that type of help when they were grabbing us with two hands and all that.” After losing the game to Team USA, it was all about reflecting on the scoring opportunities for his team that they could have gotten with 7:19 left until the end of the fourth quarter.

“We played the best we could. We could have made a few more shots and saved a few more possessions at the end, but that’s basketball,” Bogdan confessed to the media. However, he did not continue his yapper against referees, despite his disagreements, “I’m not that type of guy who will talk about referees, you know, and I even wanted to win against referees too, you know, and respect to us for keeping it calm the whole game and not talking to them.”

After two days, Serbia and Bogdan Bogdanovic will step onto the court for the Bronze medal game against Germany. Obviously, the referee’s roster won’t change at this stage of the competition, likely that’s the reason why the 31-year-old Serbian captain was a little hesitant to share any details, as he concluded, “These referees are going to be there too, so we can’t talk about them now. I don’t want to think like a loser, you know, referees, blah, blah. Even though I think that they could have called differently,” via BasketNews.

Despite the claims that Bogdan Bogdanovic made against the referring decisions, it was not only Team USA who was blamed after things allegedly played out in their favor. It was the same case, with the other semifinal too, which involved the host team. Speaking of which, what exactly happened that sparked the uproar between Bron and Bogdanovic? Let’s go back a few hours.

LeBron James’ heated outrage after Bogdan Bogdanovic’s celebration goes viral

The star-studded Team USA was under solid pressure. Despite starting well, they couldn’t build consistency, and the Serbian side entered the second half with an 11-point lead, leaving fans to scratch their heads. It was frustrating for Dream Team 2.0 as well, with each of them cake walking through the pool phase. However, the one who exploded on the court was King James. Late into the second quarter, with about four minutes on the clock, Bogdan Bogdanovic charged toward the bench, where he celebrated, after sinking a 3.

Well, disappointed to be trailing, an already frustrated LeBron James turned absolutely furious and faced Bogdan Bogdanovic directly face-to-face on the court. The altercation lasted for moments as a hoard of players and referees intervened to then cool down the situation. But Bron still did not seem pacified, as he was seemingly chanting “not nice” pointing toward the Serbian in question.

It felt like LeBron James was asking referees to take cognizance of such activities. However, with the plays and the celebrations that later followed, Team USA secured their ticket to the Finale, and it looks like King James delivered what was asked of him without chirping too much, in the heat of the moment. Nonetheless, the officiating in the Paris Olympics has been a matter of concern for many players across sports. But it can’t be applied to the USA-Serbia game, since it was a tough game for sure but not a scripted one.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.