By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Serbia shocked team USA in their consolation bracket match-up, 94-89, of the FIBA World Cup 2019.
The consolation bracket match-up will determine the fifth to eight places of the tournament, and with team USA’s defeat, they will finish with their worst outing in a FIBA or Olympic tourney, outside of the top 5.
The lack of size in the Americans’ front-line was exposed by the Serbians, as Nikola Jokic and Boban Marjanovic pounded their way in the shaded area at will, just like what Rudy Gobert and the French national team did to the Gregg Popovich led squad.
The hot shooting of the team helped Serbia blitz their way early in the game, scoring 32 points in the first quarter, compared to USA’s 7.
Bogdan Bogdanovic unleashed 3 treys in 3 minutes in the opening canto, receiving beautiful screens from co-NBA player Jokic.
The Americans came back in the second quarter, outscoring the Serbians 33-12 courtesy of their improved ball movement that led to wide-open shots.
The second half was a tightly contested slugfest, as both teams went at each other until the buzzer.
The game went back and forth, with Serbia hanging on to their 5-point lead for the most part.
It wasn’t until the last 2 minutes where the Serbians found a comfortable cushion with a 10-point lead.
Nikola Jokic then sank the last two free throw shots to ice the game and earn the chance to place fifth in the tournament.
