By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Greece was unbeaten in the group phase, but said goodbye to the FIBA World Cup in the first knock out game. Serbia got the big 90-72 win in a game in which the players of coach Sasha Djordjevic had the momentum from the first moment and never lost it.
Greece had the lead only once in the game (42-41 in the 19th minute) and couldn’t stop the balanced Serbian offense which was spearheaded by Bogdan Bogdanovic with 21 points. Four more Serbs, Raduljica, Krstic, Kalinic and Teodosic, scored in double digits and dismantled the image of the Greeks from the first round. Τhe game was ultimately decided in the first seven minutes of the last quarter during which the partial score was 19-9 for the winners and the Greeks couldn’t react.
Coach Sasha Djordjevic said after the game: “Greece played great in group stages, we wanted to break their plays, force them to play on one on one situations and we did. We have to stay humble now and continue to work. I hope this was not the perfect game of my team. I am proud for our defense, we have worked very much for it since the start of our preparation and in this game we have seen the results”. His Greek counterpart Fotis Katsikaris admitted: “We let them score many easy baskets, we tried to react, but we couldn’t. Bourousis was tired and not so fresh, compared to previous game and Serbia has the front line to take advantage of this”.