With an Exciting Win, Serbia Joins the USA in the 2014 FIBA Finals

France made it close at the end, but Serbia's Milos Teodosic led a team effort to secure the win and entry into the Finals

The game of hoops is the greatest…two teams trying to find that magic formula, seize it, make it work, hold onto it and try to keep your body upright for 40 minutes.” 
Coach Mason

FRANCE vs SERBIA
Milos Teodosic (24pts), the best true point guard on the planet, came out firing and running pick and rolls like a pro to lead his Serbian team to a 46-32 first half blitz on a French team that had no answers. With his crafty ball handling and razor-sharp passes, Teodosic totally confused France, a team that had played great defense at times in the tournament. Teodosic, who is a member of top pro Russian team CSKA Moscow, time and time again made beautiful assists to his bigs Nenad Krstic and Miroslav Raduljica, both of whom scored 11 points and ruled the paint. In one three-minute span, Teodosic had four assists to his bigs. 

Boris Diaw (13pts) and Thomas Heurtel (12pts) kept France close, but Serbia’s 14-point lead continued through the third quarter. French coach Vincent Collet changed his defense at the beginning of the fourth quarter by putting pressure on the ball and forcing the pick and roll offense out higher toward midcourt. This moved the Serbian bigs out higher and away from the basket. It also changed the pace of the game and allowed Nicolas Batum room to operate. Operate, he did! Batum went 8/12 from the 3 point line and pulled France to within three in the last two minutes. During this run, Serbia started fouling, and Heurtel went 10/10 from the free throw line. With two seconds remaining and France only down by three, Teodosic made the assist of the game to Krstic for a short jump hook to raise the lead to 5, taking the game out of reach for France. Final score Serbia 90 France 85.

Both teams played tired with some players on the court for more than 30 minutes. This was a shooter’s game. Serbia shot 53% from three and France was close behind at 45%. France had a few more turnovers (12 to Serbia’s 9) and out-rebounded Serbia 32-28. Batum finished with 35 points and was better than advertised. I thought one of the unsung players for Serbia was Bojan Bogdanovic, who contributed 13 points in 26 minutes on the floor. He and Teodosic were key to Serbia’s win. 

Thanks, fellows, for an exciting game! I’m looking forward to more to come as Lithuania and France face off Saturday for the bronze, and Serbia battles the USA on Sunday in the 2014 FIBA Finals. Check back here tomorrow for analysis on the France/Lithuania game as well as a preview of the Finals, including keys to the game for both teams.