Above all else, basketball is a team game. Players with high points get the highlights and headlines, but teams win games.
Serbia’s team under veteran coach Svetislav Pesic have played together for years; Canada’s team under new coach Jordi Fernandez played 5 exhibition games and 5 world cup games coming into their semi-final against Serbia.
The result: the familiar Serbians seemed to run circles around — and through — the talented Canadians to win 95-86 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines.
Pushing the ball and anticipating each other’s moves, Serbia took advantage of mismatches, found the open man and shot 27-of-38 from two-point range (71.1 percent) and 45 percent from three, while Canada made 48 percent of twos and 37 percent of threes. Serbia’s 62 percent overall shooting performance echoed Greece’s 62.5 percent in their legendary FIBA semi-final victory over USA in Saitama, Japan in 2006.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 23 points, Nikola Milutinov and Ognjen Dobric added 16 each, Marko Guduric had 12 and Aleksa Avramovic finished with 10 for Serbia.
At the other end, Serbia’s cohesion and size on defense stymied Canada’s drives and athleticism. Serbian coach Pesic used the size of Dobric, a small forward, and the speed and tenacity of guard Avramovic to apply relentless pressure on all-NBA guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, holding him to 15 points (half his World Cup average) and 9 assists.
After the game, Bogdanovic said that Avramovic studied tapes of SGA for two days, and promised to steal the ball, which he did, turning it into a dunk early in the fourth quarter.
Serbia opted to pack the paint, take away drives, and leave RJ Barrett and Dillon Brooks open for threes. Barrett led Canada with 23 points on 8 of 14 shooting, and Brooks had 16, but they didn’t create as many dunks and fouls as previous games.
Serbia’s aggression put Canada’s SGA and Brooks into foul trouble early, prompting Canada coach Fernandez to replace SGA with guard Trae Bell-Haynes, who lacked playing time under pressure. Serbia took an early lead 23-15 and didn’t look back.
MIlutinov had 10 defensive rebounds, and Canada only had 6 second-chance points compared with their average of 13 coming into the game.
“The defense starts with our guards, and it’s a chain effect for the rest of the team,” said Pesic. “Just one person messes up, and the whole chain falls apart. The taller guys have a lot of trust in our guards and their ball pressure, the rest of the team gives them a lot of trust. That’s why they are playing with a lot of confidence. Dobric was already great on defense v Lithuania, but it wasn’t noticeable because of his offense. And look at him today, 13 points… No, wait, 16 points! In a World Cup Semi-Final!”
Among others, Guduric noted Serbia’s intensity and passion. “I have never seen anything like this in my life, this amount of energy. It’s incredible. I can only wish them to have good night’s sleep today and tomorrow so they can keep this rhythm up in the Final. We’re just trying to follow their lead, it all starts with them. I knew everything about Dobric and his game, we grew up together, and now I finally met Aleksa and realized what he can do.”
Canada’s Barrett praised Serbia for playing a great game. “They played hard, they played physical and they are very well coached and disciplined. They started out fast and we were down by 10-12 basically the entire time. They did some random trapping and tried to get some steals, but we played physical. Our defense was not on the level it was all tournament long.”
“They played a great game, extremely hard and physical,” said Canada’s coach Fernandez, who grew up in Spain admiring Pesic. “We were okay offensively, but we were atrocious defensively. When a team shoots 62 percent from the field, 45 percent from three, obviously something was not done well. We didn’t prepare well for this game.”
Canada made a run late in the second quarter but SGA and Brooks picked up their third fouls, Fernandez got a technical, and Canadian fans hollered “referees suck, referees suck”. Serbia closed the first half on a 7-2 run to lead 52-39. “We kept playing hard and obviously I got a tech on purpose and I had my reasons,” said Fernandez. “I think we lost because we didn’t defend. I left the officiating for whoever judges the officials. I can only say to them, thanks for doing their jobs. Without officials, we couldn’t play the game of basketball. We’ve got to be better.”
Often in foul trouble, Brooks and Olynyk picked up their fourth fouls early in the third quarter and Canada could only come within 7 of Serbia. Serbia led 75-63 after three quarters and expanded their leads in the fourth to hold onto a comfortable win.
After the game, Serbian players went into the crowd to hug their families and fans.
words and images copyright Christopher Johnson Globalite Media all rights reserved
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