Serbia 94, USA 89 – Another humiliation

It was both a match that counted for butter and for the honor and twenty-four hours after their bitter defeat against France, the United States succumbed against Serbia, 89-94, at the time a ranking match for 5th to 8th place. They can not finish this World Cup seventh, which is worse than at the 2002 Indianapolis World Championship, where they finished sixth, which was considered a national disaster. They will have to deliver Saturday a last battle against Poland or the Czech Republic.

What a humiliation for the kings of basketball.

The Americans were still in full swing in the first quarter of the match as they were 32-7 after ten minutes! They had converted only 3 of their 16 shoots while the Serbs turned 64% success.

Harrison Barnes of the Sacramento Kings (22 points), Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics (18) and Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks (16) did their best to organize a comeback. It almost succeeded as the USA inflicted a 33-12 to the Serbs in the second quarter and appeared at 87-91 to 59 seconds from the buzzer but Serbia broke the pressing of the American team and sealed the match on the line of free throws.

Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Sacramento Kings was once again Serbia's leading scorer with 28 points including a 7/14 three-pointer. The Denver Nuggets All-Star pivot, Nicolas Jokic (9 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds), broke the last nail of the American coffin with two free throws.

Photo: Gregg Popovich