James Harden of the U.S. (R) goes up for a basket over Slovenia's Goran Dragic during their Basketball World Cup quarter-final game in Barcelona September 9, 2014.
James Harden of the U.S. (R) goes up for a basket over Slovenia's Goran Dragic during their Basketball World Cup quarter-final game in Barcelona September 9, 2014. REUTERS

It’s not the championship match everyone expected but the USA vs. Serbia final in the 2014 FIBA World Cup could very well pull off a nice surprise on Monday (5 am, Australian time) as the world basketball championships come to a close in Madrid, Spain.

The national team from the United States of America (USA) or Team USA was pegged in the pre-tournament as the heavy favourite to win the world cup of basketball and they have more than lived up to the expectations winning all of their games by an average of 33.2 points per game.

READ ALSO: Still The World Champions: Team USA Overpowers Serbia, 129-92 To Win 2014 FIBA World Cup [PHOTOS]

Meanwhile, Serbia is the surprise of the tournament beating hosts Spain in the quarterfinals to spoil what the highly-anticipated meeting between the Americans and Spaniards in the championship round.

How USA and Serbia Got to the Final

Team USA was expected to dominate the competition early and the Americans did; beating Finland, 114-55 in the opener before notching wins over Turkey, 98-77 and New Zealand, 98-71 in the next two. They closed out the group stages with blowout victories over Dominican Republic, 106-71 and Ukraine, 95-71.

In the knockout stages, Team USA beat Mexico, 86-63 in the Round of 16; Slovenia, 119-76 in the quarterfinals and Lithuania, 96-68 in the semifinals.

Serbia wasn’t too impressive in the group phase finishing with just 2 wins against 3 losses. They opened with an 85-64 victory over African squad Egypt but fell to France, 73-74 in their next game. Thanks to an 83-70 win over Asian team Iran, the losses to Brazil, 73-81 and Spain, 73-89 in their final two games didn’t matter as they advanced to the KO stages despite the mediocre record.

The do-or-die affairs seemed to have lit a fire on the Serbians however. They surprised erstwhile undefeated Greece—5-0 in the group stages—in the Round of 16 before putting the clamps down on Brazil, 84-56 in the quarterfinals. The Serbians then stopped France, which ousted Spain in the QF, on their tracks with a 90-85 victory to gain a spot in the gold medal match.

Key Players, Strategy for USA and Serbia

With the deepest roster in the tournament, the Americans have a slew of weapons to use against the world squads. James Harden and Anthony Davis and lead the team in scoring with 13.1 and 13.0 points per game, respectively. Five other players-- Klay Thompson (12.8 PPG), Kenneth Faried (12.5), Kyrie Irving (10.4 PPG), Stephen Curry (10.8 PPG) and DeMarcus Cousins (9.4 PPG)-- score nine points or more for the Americans.

The balanced scoring attack allows Team USA to be efficient on both ends of the floor. Aside from the high-powered offense, their consistent and constant pressure defense puts the opposition in danger of turning the ball over and allows the team to take advantage of easy fastbreak points.

In the crucial KO stages, the Americans had a whopping 42 fastbreak points against the Slovenians, who had 25 turnovers. They also overwhelmed the Lithuanians who had 21 turnovers and converted 24 fastbreak points.

Watch USA vs. Lithuania semifinal highlights here:

(YouTube/FIBA)

Removing the 2-3 record in the group stage, the Serbians are as impressive if the games in the do-or-die games are considered. Serbia beat Greece and Brazil by an average margin of victory of 23 points and more impressively, holding both to just 64.0 PPG on the average.

Team defense is Serbia’s calling card in the tournament but they’ll need to be effective on both sides of the floor to have a chance against the Americans. Pegged to carry the scoring load are Bogdan Bogdanovic (21 points, 4/7 three-point FG vs. Greece); Miroslav Raduljica (16 points and 6 rebounds vs. Greece); and Milos Teodosic (23 points and 5 assists vs. Brazil and 24 points on 5/7 3FG vs. France).

Watch Serbia vs. France semifinals highlights here:

(YouTube/FIBA)

The improbable—France over Spain in the QF—already happened once in the basketball championships; will lighting strike twice in the final day of competition in Spain? The Americans have never been tested in the two-week long tourney; can the Serbians give them at least a good fight or maybe even steal a victory?

Watch the championship round of the 2014 FIBA World Cup: USA vs. Serbia live streaming via these links: ESPN and LiveBasketball.TV.