Patty Mills was boiling and the Serbs were trailing by 24 points in this quarter-final against Australia. If now, in a basketball dominated by 3-pts, the gaps are no longer an assurance to win, nevertheless, 24 points ahead in the second quarter, in a 40-minute match, is a very comfortable cushion.
It wasn't enough for the Boomers, who eventually lost in overtime. “The plan remains the same: sacrifice, teamwork, belief. We still believe in victory.”, comments Bogdan Bogdanovic.
How did they manage to come back, little by little, until they took the lead at the end of the third quarter? “To tell the truth, we didn't keep a cool head”recognizes the best scorer in the history of Serbia. “But we knew we were behind, that we needed to find some rhythm. Australia had the momentum. […] Even though things weren't going our way, we believed in ourselves and continued to support each other.”
The quarter-final, the match not to be lost
Vasilije Micic highlights the importance of the Serbs' experience in dealing with the slap received in the first half. “If we think that everything is over in the first half, then we have no chance of winning,” specifies the player who discovered the NBA last season. “Fortunately, almost all of us have experience, so we had extra energy and we responded well.”
He adds that he has not “no particular answer” to the poor start of the Serbs. “It happens. Nobody goes into a game with the intention of taking 20 points. That's how it was.”he continues before returning to the end of the meeting: “Maybe we could have won without overtime, but it's even better this way.”
It was indeed a match not to be lost for Bogdan Bogdanovic, who knows well the importance of this match.
“People were expecting an easier match, but the quarter-final is the most difficult level of the tournament, the one with the most pressure. Because we know that, in case of defeat, we are out.”recalls the Atlanta player, since, in the semi-final, if there is a defeat, there remains a small final to play.
