RIO DE JANEIRO — Serbia did what it had to do in group play to advance, losing to the USA, Australia and France by a combined 19 points and beating Venezuela and China.
But in the knockout round, Serbia beat Croatia, the top team from Group B, in quarterfinals and hammered Australia in the semifinals, advancing to gold-medal game against the USA on Sunday (2:45 p.m. ET)
“When you talk about Serbia, you’re talking about a team with incredible pride, a team that has a tremendous basketball IQ and a team that’s led by a great leader, who happens to be one of its country’s national heroes in coach Sasha Djordjevic,” said international basketball expert Fran Fraschilla who works for EPSN and is analyzing Olympic games for NBA.
“Although there’s only one NBA player on the roster, it’s clear that these guys are high-level basketball players.
This is a rematch of the 2014 World Cup final, which the U.S. won 129-92. But in group A play, the USA's struggled against Serbia’s creative offense and hung on for a 94-91 victory.
Here are four things to know about Serbia headed into the final:
Milos Teodosic
Any discussion about Serbia starts with Teodosic, one of the best guards in Europe over the past decade, and he might explore an NBA deal at some point.
Teodosic, 29, is a master in pick-and-roll offense, and he averages 12.6 points and 5.7 assists.
“He sees all defenders and where the defense is getting its help from and then he picks out the open man. It could be a big rolling to the rim or a shooter in the corner,” Fraschilla said. “He’s able to survey the entire floor. A great pick-and-roll player like Teodosic creates indecision for the defense because, in part, he holds onto the ball long enough for the defense to break down.”
Look for the USA to put a strong, big defender on the 6-5 guard.
“You have to put length on him and try to take away his vision as best you can. It’s not easy,” Fraschilla said.
Sasha Djordjevic
As a player, he was a star, earning Mr. Europa honors in 1994 and 1995, and he won silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Vlade Divac was on that team.
As Serbia’s coach, he is a no-nonsense, defense-first coach, who took over in 2013 and took a young and talented roster and turned it into a strong international team.
“It’s a junk-yard, hard-nosed defense. It’s part of the basketball culture there,” Fraschilla said.
Offensively, he believes in ball movement, player movement and sharing the basketball, and Djordjevic made headlines after the U.S. game when he complimented the San Antonio Spurs’ style of play.
“San Antonio’s game the last decade showed us how the game should be played,” he said.
Post play
Serbia has two solid big men — 7-0, 270-pound Miroslav Raduljica who plays in Italy and 6-10, 250-pound Nikola Jokic, who is 21 years old and made the All-NBA rookie first team with the Denver Nuggets in 2015-16. Teodosic called Jokic one of Europe’s biggest talents.
Adept around the basket, Raduljica is averaging 15.9 points. While Teodosic runs the offense, Serbia is comfortable getting the ball to Jokic in the low post where he can shoot or pass. Denver guard Will Barton calls Jokic the third Gasol brother.
“They have just as much confidence in their play-making as they do when the ball is in the hands of a guard,” Fraschilla said.
Offensive style
Serbia gave U.S. the USA trouble in group play, and it runs a very active offense. There is constant movement, and when the ball goes into the low post, the perimeter players continue to move and set screens rather than watch the ball.
Serbia runs false actions — making it look like it is going to do one thing but do another.
“If there’s lazy defense when the ball is in the post, they’re very adept at cutting and screening and scoring,” Fraschilla said.
They have three-point shooters in Teodosic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Stefan Markovic, Nemanja Nedovic and Nikola Kalinic.
Serbia is difficult to defend. However, Fraschilla likes the way the USA has improved its defense the quarterfinals against Argentina and semifinals against Spain.
“I think you’re going to see the locked-in defense you saw in the first two games of the knockout,” he said. “I think they’re going to go up against a U.S. defense that now knows how to handle the movement and flow that they needed to get used to. I think Serbia is going to have a little more trouble the second time around.”
