By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
PARIS, France – Svetislav Pesic beat the US back in the 2002 FIBA World Cup, however, lighting couldn’t strike twice for him
Serbia put the USA to the test, but they lost and Pesic talked about the “right to be angry”, expressing also his “disappointment”.
As he said speaking to the Serbian press: “There is a rule that we use a lot in Serbia. And that is, the one who loses has the right to be angry. I’m not angry at all, I’m proud of everything we’ve done so far. With all the problems we have. You saw that Milutinov had a fever for two days and played sick. The same with Jovic. Our rotation has decreased. Both gave as much as they could. Let’s see if we can recover them to have a bigger rotation in the game against the Germans.”
So is there any anger? As it turned there is to some degree: “I’m not looking for any excuses, I just want to say… The one who loses has the right to be angry. Why am I angry? Because we didn’t get respect from the refs here. Not only in this game. I don’t talk about it too much, but I have to say it. Because if one of the best players in the world, if not the best, shoots only four free throws in 37 minutes, and every other offense he has the ball in his hands. And if our second-best player, Bogdanovic, shoots only one free throw in 32 minutes, and every second or third attack he has the ball, then strange things happened”.
Still Pesic congratulated the opponent, but also talked about “lack of respect”: “I’m not underestimating, I congratulate the Americans, I wish them much success in the finals But tonight strange things were happening. I don’t know if you saw it. I am calm. I’m not angry, I’m proud, I’m disappointed because we didn’t get respect for this team, not Serbia as a basketball nation, from the refs. And that’s one of the reasons we didn’t complete this magnificent game we played today. But that’s how it is. We have to forget that and get ready for the next game.”
Photo credit: FIBA