Serbia hope to carry winning form into OQT
BELGRADE (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) - In preparation for the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) which they will host at Belgrade Arena next week, Serbia on Tuesday night added one more victory as they beat Turin OQT-bound Greece 91-76 to extend their string of excellent displays.
We have a big heart and we need it to show against Puerto Rico on Monday. - Aleksandar Djordjevic
Denver Nuggets rising star Nikola Jokic delivered his best showing in a national team jersey as he led the winnners with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 1 block, while Serbia captain Milos Teodosic hit 4-of-6 three-point attempts to finish with 16 points. Meanwhile, Greece superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo had 14 points and small forward Stratos Perperoglou added 12 in losing efforts.
The Serbians are now riding a three-game winning streak in warm-ups as they had previously defeated another European powerhouse, France, both home and away and the aim of the Balkan team is to stay perfect until the end of next week.
Pali i Grci, treća pobeda Srbije u nizu!
— Košarkaški savez SRB (@KSSrbije) 28 June 2016
Izveštaj i izjave na https://t.co/iXcWHCY3my#kss #reprezentacija pic.twitter.com/T6LgCFyMQO
"This was another important victory for us," said Serbia point guard Stefan Jovic who finished with 10 points. "The preparation was atypically short, but we did good things in these three games. I think that in the few days remaining until the start of the OQT we will be able to correct whatever mistakes we diagnosed in these friendlies and we will be ready."
Serbia head coach Aleksandar Djordjevic pleaded with his players to maintain the same level of concentration until the OQT premiere.
"I want to ask everybody to enter the upcoming tournament fully focused, we have a big heart and we need for it to show against Puerto Rico on Monday," he said. "We still need to fine-tune our team work but that's normal at this stage of preparations. We are going through this process together so that we will still be playing until the end of the OQT, and hopefully after that too."
Στους 12 πόντους ο Στράτος Περπέρογλου #hellas #SRBGRE #FIBAOQT pic.twitter.com/d6YN5iuHtY
— Hellenic Basketball (@HellenicBF) 28 June 2016
Greece head coach Fotis Katsikaris singled out Serbia's dominance on the offensive glass, as the hosts collected 11 boards on that end and out-rebounded the very athletic Greek side 30 to 24.
"As we expected, it was a tough game against a very strong team," he said. "Our first problem was one-on-one defence, the second was that they scored a lot of second-chance points and that made us lose our grip on the game in the final three minutes before half-time. In the second half fatigue played a big role and our defensive transitions as well as our reactions were slow."
Milan Macvan and Nemanja Nedovic did not play for Serbia while Kostas Sloukas and Kostas Koufos did not suit up for Greece. While Nedovic's absence was a coach's decision and Koufos is expected to be fully fit by Monday when the OQTs tip-off, the health condition of Macvan and Sloukas is now the biggest concern for Serbia and Greece, respectively.
Two of the most promising Serbian and European talents, guards Marko Guduric and Rade Zagorac made their first appearance with the senior national team in Monday's game, albeit they only spent a couple of minutes on the floor each. Both were members of the Serbian side which conquered gold at the 2015 FIBA U20 European Championship, with Guduric also earning Tournament MVP honours.
FIBA
