From the start of the match, the strategy of the Serbia is quite clear: take advantage of the ball losses of the Porto Rico to play fast, and attack the circle as much as possible. And it quickly pays off, with Jose Alvarado and his teammates quickly finding themselves more than ten lengths behind. And even at -12 (24-12) at the end of the first quarter.
Fortunately for them, the Serbs missed several shots near the circle, because the bill could already be very high. Fortunately also for the fans, and the suspense, that Christopher Ortiz managed a few three-pointers, to compensate for the clumsiness of the Waters – Alvarado duo, blocked at only 4 points at half-time, at 2/10 shooting!
However, this was not enough to catch up with Serbia, who dominated the interior battle and the rebound too much to let their gap fly away. Especially since Nikola Jokic took over from Filip Petrusev in scoring.
However, while the gap had increased to +22 (52-30) one minute before half-time, Serbia relaxed defensively and finally went into the locker room with a slightly more limited lead (52-35) on the scoreboard.
62 points for Serbia in the racket… against 22
Even though Aleksa Avramovic made two 3-pointers early in the third quarter, Serbia seemed to be in a bit of a rut. However, taking advantage of Puerto Rican turnovers and their huge advantage in the paint, they continued to widen the gap, including a superb pass behind the back from Bogdan Bogdanovic to Nikola Jokic in the heart of the paint. By the end of the third quarter, Serbia was firmly in the lead (79-51).
Svetislav Pesic can then take out his starters, including Nikola Jokic on the verge of a triple-double, with 14 points, 15 rebounds and 9 assists, and let his substitutes finish the job calmly.
After its inaugural defeat against the United States, Serbia got back on track by easily dominating Puerto Rico (107-66), which lost for the second time in two matches… before having to challenge the United States.
Photo credit: FIBA
