Netherlands down Spain to reach men's hockey final

ARUN SANKAR/ AFP

Top-ranked Netherlands reached the men's hockey final at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday with a much more comfortable 4-0 win over Spain than in the pool stage when they had to fight back from two goals down.

They will play in their first Olympic final since London 2012 as they bid to end a 24-year gold medal drought.

India and Germany meet in the second semi-final later on Tuesday - a rematch of their Tokyo Games bronze medal clash.

Spain, who lost 5-3 to the Dutch in their Pool A match, will get their first chance to compete for a medal since 2008 in the bronze medal match.

In the men's basketball, Nikola Jokic proved again why he is a three-time NBA most valuable player, leading Serbia to a nail-biting 95-90 overtime win over Australia and into the final four.

It was an uphill victory from the start for Serbia, who dug themselves out of a 24-point first half hole to reach the brink of a regulation victory only to watch Patty Mill hit a desperation fade away jumper with 1.4 seconds to play to force the extra session.

With just over a minute to go in overtime and Serbia trailing 90-89 Jokic came to his country's rescue, scoring two clutch baskets to deliver the dagger and a 93-90 lead.

Bogdan Bogdanovic made the final two free throws to seal the victory.

Jokic finished with a team high 21 points and 14 rebounds, while Bogdanovic contributed 17 points to the Serbian cause.

The win sends Serbia through to the semi-finals for the second in the last three Games, where they now await the winner of US and Brazil.

Earlier, Franz Wagner hit for 18 points as Germany overcame a sleepy start to ease past Greece 76-63 and secure their spot in a first ever Olympic final four.

After group play in Lille, the basketball tournament has moved to Paris for the knockout round with four quarter-finals highlighted by a showdown between medal contenders France and Canada followed by the LeBron James-led US taking on Brazil.

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