Serbia is on the verge of advancing to the tournament with Nikola Jovic (20, Miami Heat) instead of Nikola Jokic (28, Denver Nuggets). Serbia defeated Puerto Rico by 94-77, 17 points in Group B of the group stage of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Namji Basketball World Cup held in Quezon City, Philippines on the 28th (Korean time). On this day, Serbia's 6-foot-11-inch (211 cm) forward Nikola Jovic of Miami and guard Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Atlanta Hawks were the scoring leaders with 17 points each.
Jovic, who scored 11 points in the first quarter alone, added 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 3-pointers to his final record. Also, Bogdanovic had 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Serbia led the game 27-15 after the first quarter and consistently led the game to the end, and at the end of the first half, the score was 57-27, 30 points. 먹튀검증 Puerto Rico succeeded in narrowing the score to 17 points in the third quarter. However, Serbia put Jović and Bogdanovic at the end of the 4th quarter and finished the game maintaining the score difference.
Earlier, the Serbian national team faced a major crisis even before entering this World Cup. Jokic, who led Denver's first championship in the NBA Finals, decided to miss for a break. This put a heavy burden on Bogdanovic's shoulders, but Jovic was there in Serbia. Bogdanovic said that Jovic is making good progress in Miami's culture and is grateful that he has chosen to play in the World Cup. “Jovic is an amazing player. Miami drafted him for a reason. He's a serious guy and he's always in the gym. He always tries to improve his performance,” he expressed his affection for Jovic.
Meanwhile, Serbia will finish the group stage with a match against South Sudan at 5:00 pm on the 30th. With a total goal difference of 59 points from the first two matches, Serbia are almost guaranteed to advance to the final round.
