By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
You can read here the long history of those two rivals, Russia has already beaten Serbia in the tournament in a close game, but all this doesn’t mean much. If Serbia was present at full strength in this tournament, then things would have been different, but now everything can happen.
Russia v Serbia (20:30 CET/ 21:30 local time)
Yes, this is a team game but everyone expects the shoot out between Aleksey Shved and Bogdan Bogdanovic. The two deadlier scorers in this tournament are expected to take their team on their shoulders and lead it to the final.
The key difference here is that Russia without Shved running the offense doesn’t seem able to do much else. Serbia, on the other hand, has more options, even if Bogdanovic is the one who gets the ball in his hands when it really matters.
The second key match up is going to be the duel between Timofey Mozgov and Boban Marjanovic. However, Serbia has also Ognjen Kuzmic as an alternative, while Mozgov, like Shved on the back court, must do things all by himself.
This is a more than interesting game and on paper, Serbia seems to have the edge. However, Russia was the team that prevailed in the group phase, so anything goes.
(Photo credit: FIBA.basketball)