"She was trash-talking me" - Paul George describes USA vs Serbia game day drama with his wife, credits LeBron James for win

Few basketball fans expected LeBron James and Team USA to go life-and-death with Serbia. The game was so competitive that Paul George and his Serbian wife began trash-talking one another. The multiple-time NBA All-Star stated on his podcast that the encounter was an incredible matchup from start to finish and credited the 20-time NBA All-Star's performance.

To be down 17 points to a Nikola Jokic-led squad was not a scenario many fans would have imagined this year's USA Basketball team would be in, considering the amount of talent they have on their roster.

Stephen Curry's 36-point performance, LeBron James' triple-double and timely plays from Kevin Durant enabled the team to pull off the comeback en route to a gold medal meeting with France.

"Who won that game for them? LeBron," George said. "... And I'm not taking no credit away from what Steph did. He is 36, if he doesn't do that, we lose. ... I think 'Bron took it as the initiative of like, We not losing this game.' ... Watching the game, I felt cheesy. I was getting chills ... My wife is Serbian, we're watching the game and she's like trash-talking me."

Before their matchup against Serbia, Team USA handled their business effectively over opponents from Group Play up to the quarterfinal. However, international teams are always going to give them their best shot and yesterday's showing saw a Serbian team that was close to an upset victory.

The game eventually came down to the wire before the USA finally regained some much-needed momentum to capitalize on in the final quarter.

---

LeBron James' emotional speech to Team USA huddle following win against Serbia

It was the kind of game that showcased how much the USA wanted to win. Regardless of how they did it, all that mattered to them was the win.

After the hard-fought victory, Lakers star LeBron James knew that winning just one more game was all that stood in their way of a gold medal finish, as per Athlon Sports' Matt Audilet.

"One more, James said. "One f**king more. We already knew that was going to be the test of the f**king tournament. Steph [Curry], Jo [Embiid], ya'll carried us tonight. One more. Gold on three."

LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid for USA Basketball Men's Olympic Team - Source: Imagn

James made sure to credit the incredible contributions of Warriors' Stephen Curry and 76ers' Joel Embiid. They find themselves matched up against Victor Wembanyama and France with an opportunity to remind the basketball world once again of who remains the gold standard of the sport.