Having met in the Olympic opener for their respective teams, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo and Heat forward Nikola Jovic will set out Tuesday to create another reunion at the Paris Olympics.
At the start of the Olympic competition in men’s basketball on July 28, Adebayo and Team USA defeated Serbia and Jovic 110-84.
Since then, both teams have advanced to Tuesday’s quarterfinals in Paris, with Serbia to face Australia at 8:30 a.m. Eastern and then Team USA to face Brazil at 3:30 p.m.
Should Adebayo and Jovic come out victorious on Tuesday, then it would be a Serbia-USA, Adebayo-Jovic rematch in Thursday’s semifinals.
In that Olympic opener, Adebayo finished with four points and two rebounds, converting a jumper over Jovic, with Jovic closing with five points and two rebounds, often defended by Adebayo.
Both Adebayo and Jovic have played solely as reserves in the Games, with Jovic working his way back from an ankle sprain sustained during a June workout on the Heat practice court at Kaseya Center.
Both Team USA and Serbia are favored Tuesday, with Tuesday victories meaning Adebayo and Jovic guaranteed of being positioned for medals in either Saturday’s gold-medal game or Saturday’s bronze-medal game.
Adebayo won gold with Team USA at the 2021 Tokyo Games in his lone previous Olympic appearance, with Jovic winning the silver medal last summer with Serbia at the World Cup in The Philippines.
There will be two other Heat elements at play on Tuesday, with Heat coach Erik Spoelstra a Team USA assistant to Steve Kerr, and with Heat free-agent guard Patty Mills making his fifth Olympic quarterfinal appearance for Australia.
The four losing teams on Tuesday will see their Olympic schedules come to a close, with, in the other Tuesday games, favored Germany playing Greece, and favored Canada playing France.
For Adebayo, playing off the bench has been a role reversal, a starter for every appearance over the last five seasons for the Heat.
Former Heat guard Dwyane Wade, who excelled as a reserve when Team USA won gold at the 2008 Olympics and currently is serving as an Olympic analyst for NBC, said Spoelstra had texted him about Adebayo doing now what Wade accomplished at those Beijing Games.
“Spo said Bam’s role on this team is similar to mine,” Wade said. “You are coming in off the bench, and your role can change every night. That’s how valuable Bam has been, playing his role very well.”
Wade, during a media conference call Monday, said he has utilized Spoelstra as a resource during the games.
“I reached out to Coach Spo and just get tidbits there and understanding,” Wade said. “After practice he normally works with Bam, then (Devin) Booker comes and then KD (Kevin Durant) comes, and the list goes on and on.”
As for Wade, he said he is relishing his new Olympic role.
“Well,” he said Monday, “the first thing for me was to sit down and try to learn how to pronounce the names from the Greece team. I’ve never really had to do that, just in my normal life and definitely with the world listening.
“One thing I’ve done since I retired is I work with a vocal coach. I work with a speech coach, as well. Just like when I played basketball, I had trainers. I have people help me get 1 percent better, understanding that God gave me natural talents but how do you take it to another level?
“Not knowing this space, I just did what I normally did, and I just prepared myself as much as possible. Go and read as much information about each team as I can so I have my own information and knowledge. Go watch film. I watched the games that the USA played versus a lot of teams in this field and any other film I could find from other teams just so I could be familiar with their game.”
Wade said Monday that the elevated stakes in the knockout round are undeniable.
“A team doesn’t need to be better than you four times out of the seven like the NBA. They have to just be better than you one night,” he said. “That’s the tough part about the Olympics. Obviously, Team USA is preparing for all those things. And I can guarantee you that they’re getting a little bit more disciplined than they probably were.”
