Italy loss fires up finals-bound Serbia
MANILA, Philippines — Serbia is through to the championship match of the 2023 FIBA World Cup after a clinical 95-86 win over Canada in the semifinals at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Friday.
But their run to the finals, where they return for the first time since 2014 and will face Germany, wasn’t perfect as they were blemished early in the second round when they fell to World No. 10 Italy in their opening game of that phase.
For Nikola Milutinov, the challenge came at a perfect time for the Serbians as it gave them enough time to regroup before the games that mattered the most.
“I think the loss to Italy was, for us, in the best moment to shake our heads a little bit and we got it after that loss,” said Milutinov after the game.
“We talked for one time and we realized what we had to do and we are showing this to everyone game by game and we have one more step to achieve the dream,” he added.
The big man stepped up tremendously for a Serbia team that was missing former NBA Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic.
Sharing a name, Milutinov also shared his compatriot’s skills, finishing with a double-double against Canada of 16 points and 10 rebounds. He was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field.
Against a dangerous team like Canada, who were led by the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Dillon Brooks, Milutinov shared that the team zeroed in on staying disciplined for the whole game.
Even when they held sizable leads for most of the contest, the big man and his teammates held their composure to deny any comebacks.
“Yeah, we knew we had to play disciplined. We knew that we have to follow our game plan because if we are out of the discipline, they are amazing, they can catch us in one minute. They can cut a 15-minute lead so easily,” said Milutinov.
“They are so quality and we knew we had to just be with a cool head and play our rhythm for forty minutes.”
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