The Serbian basketball players will play what is perhaps their most serious match at EuroBasket so far on Saturday at 6 p.m., as they will be greeted in Arena Riga by the thunderous fans of the host, Latvia, whose players will want to make a surprise and defeat our team.
In the first match of the tournament, Serbia easily defeated the Estonians (98:64), but against Portugal, there was a lot of trouble and nervousness, and a new victory was eventually recorded (80:69), although the Eagles paid the price due to the injury of Bogdan Bogdanović, who has problems with his hamstring, and a magnetic resonance imaging will give more answers to the question about the severity of the injury.
The good news is that FIBA did not suspend Filip Petrušev due to his disqualification against Portugal, but the punishment was only conditional.
The Latvians are looking forward to tonight’s match with great impatience, and all their sports, as well as other media, are keeping the announcement of the duel with Serbia as one of the main news stories. It can be said that they announced it in a very interesting way.
Perhaps the most interesting is the announcement by the Latvian “Diena,” where they called Svetislav Pešić an “old fox,” and his methods of leading the game “old-fashioned.”
-The Latvians did not manage to beat Serbia and Yugoslavia until 2023 in the World Championship qualifiers, when we were better in Riga with 66:59. However, the result shows that Serbia did not play with its best players at that time. This summer, the situation is much different, because the Serbs have arrived in Riga with the three-time NBA league MVP, Nikola Jokić. And while the center plays a big role in the opponent’s game, the rest of the team is also very balanced, and at the head is one of the best coaches of all time, Svetislav Pešić – Diena began the text, and then continued:
-He led Germany to the European champion title in 1993, and then Yugoslavia in 2001. He often receives criticism that he is old-fashioned when it comes to leading the game, but the “old fox” has not lost his way.
They add that “it is difficult to see where Latvia’s potential advantages would be, except for more hours of rest after yesterday’s matches.”
The Latvian “Delfi” also has an interesting text where the headline attracts special attention:
-Will we be able to stop him? Latvia is lucky to play against the “Joker” and the “old fox” – is the headline of Delfi, which adds that it will be interesting to see the clash between Jokić and Porzingis, where they called Nikola a “unicorn” because of the incredible games he provides.
“Sportazinas” and “Sportacentars” add that the Latvians are playing against the absolute main favorite of EuroBasket tonight and that a possible victory for the tournament’s host would be a big surprise.
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Source: Telegraf, Photo: FIBA