Associated Press2 Minute Reading
MANILA, Philippines — No Nikola Jokic, no problem. Despite its best player sitting out this summer, Serbia will be playing for gold at the Basketball World Cup.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 23 points as Serbia defeated Canada, 95-86 in the World Cup semifinals last Friday. Ognjen Dobric and Nikola Milutinov scored 16 apiece for Serbia, the best shooting team so far in the tournament — making 55% of its shots coming into the day, then connecting on 62% to end the hopes of Canada in gold.
Serbia (6-1) is in the World Cup final for the second time in the last three tournaments. It lost to the US in the 2014 final, and will face the Americans or Germany in the title game on Sunday night in Manila.
RJ Barrett scored 23 for Canada (5-2), which is bidding to make the World Cup final for the first time. It will face the Germany-US loser for bronze Sunday, where the Canadians will try for their most significant international medal since winning silver at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Dillon Brooks scored 16 for Canada, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 15 — 10 below his tournament average entering the day.
Jokic decided not to play this summer after leading the Denver Nuggets to the NBA championship last June, giving himself time to rest before the upcoming title defense. Serbia moved on, then had to regroup for this tournament after the shock loss of reserve forward Borisa Simanic after he went down needing a kidney after being injured in a match against South Sudan.
On Sunday, the Serbian team will have a medal. Gold or silver, that is the only question.
Canada opened the tournament with a 95-65 win over reigning Olympic silver medalist France, and has the second-best odds – after the US – to win gold. But it got into a lot of foul trouble early Friday, keeping the defense off track, which in turn kept the offense from getting quick baskets.
And Serbia celebrates all that. Serbia’s lead was 52-39 at the break, and Canada was upset about the foul situation.
It was called for 17 fouls — including a technical late in the middle by coach Jordi Fernandez — in the first 20 minutes compared to 11 for Serbia, and all five of its starters had at least two fouls at the break. Gilgeous-Alexander picked up his second foul with 3:27 left in the first; Serbia responded with a 9-0 run and held the lead for the rest of the half.
Serbia led by 15 late in the half. It was the largest deficit Canada has faced in this tournament; it faced 12-point deficits against Latvia and Spain, rallying to win both times.
But not this time.