La Serbie élimine le Canada et se qualifie pour la finale de la Coupe du monde

Coupe du monde – Behind Bogdan Bogdanovic’s 23 points, Serbia once again displayed a tactical and technical marvel to defeat Canada’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (95-86) and advance to the final. Like throughout the competition, where Serbia has been flying under the radar, Svetislav Pesic’s team enters the court with a fairly clear game plan. In the early moments, they send Nikola Milutinov to work in the low post and, despite being one of the teams with the least amount of drives, they know they must break through the Canadian defense to create space behind it. The result: an 8-1 run as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (finally?) gets called for an arm push, sending him to the bench with two quick personal fouls. On defense, Serbia knows they must contain Canada’s direct play, as their offensive systems are short and there are not many ball reversals. With the agility of their guards, the Balkan nation manages to disrupt Canada’s game and logically leads (23-15) after the first ten minutes of the match. Another lesson in destabilization Lu Dort and Nickeil Alexander-Walker find their shooting range to quickly make up ground, but Canada rushes and while Kelly Olynyk earns free throws by “selling” any contact, he is also targeted by the Serbian offense. With a 3-pointer from RJ Barrett, Canada manages to trim the deficit to five points (38-33) but Bogdan Bogdanovic dissects the Canadian help defense and punishes any lag. On the other end, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander struggles to break through the Serbian defense and find his usual spots, and he even picks up his third personal foul… The same goes for Dillon Brooks, while Serbia keeps getting the whistles, loose balls, and overall all the momentum. So at halftime, it’s +13 (52-39) for the Serbian team, once again giving a masterclass in destabilization, just like against Lithuania in the previous round. At halftime, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has only scored 5 points, shooting 1/4, with 4 assists and 3 fouls. On the other hand, Bogdan Bogdanovic already has 15 points on 5/6 shooting, along with 3 assists. As the second half begins, Canada’s hands touch the ball more frequently on Serbian attacks, but Dillon Brooks picks up his fourth foul against Bogdan Bogdanovic, and although Nickeil Alexander-Walker makes a 3-pointer, Canada never manages to get closer than seven points behind… Bogdan Bogdanovic turns off the lights Even though it’s less fluent, Serbia still manages to find some openings with their changes of pace, alternation of play, and contribution from their role players and substitutes. Just when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finally finds some space and Canada battles for minutes to change the momentum, the deficit remains at +12 (75-63) at the start of the final ten minutes of the game. Symbolizing Serbian intensity, Aleksa Avramovic steals the ball directly from SGA on the fastbreak, and Jordi Fernandez calls a timeout with Marko Guduric and company pushing the lead back to +17 (82-65). Nikola Milutinov’s screens prevent Canada from closing the gap, and for the first time in the tournament, the Canadian coach bangs his fist on the table, demanding that his players give it their all until the end. It must be said that with five minutes left, there are only ten points in between (86-76). But that’s when Bogdan Bogdanovic decides to take on the role of the boss and turn off the lights. A slalom that turns into a layup, a block, and a 3-pointer in succession. And there you have it, Canada is pushed back to +15 (91-76). The Canadians are too far behind and the comeback is slipping away, even though the final margin will be less than ten points (95-86). But what a tactical match, once again, from Serbia, who thus advances to the final of the World Cup! Highlights to come…
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