By Semih Tuna/ Stuna@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – The Serbian national team received bad news before the game against hosts Latvia in Riga, as a hamstring injury kept Bogdan Bogdanovic on the sidelines.
However, Nikola Jokic took care of business with one of the best performances in Serbian national team history, leading the charge to an 84-80 victory.
Serbia kept its perfect record, improving to 3-0, as Nikola Jokic recorded a double-double with 39 points and 10 rebounds, breaking a scoring record for his national team!.
Jokić shot 15/16 from the field and 8/8 from the free-throw line, as Serbia once again had a perfect night at the stripe. Against Portugal, the Serbs made 20 out of 20, and against Latvia, they had 18 out of 18.
After getting ejected just five minutes into the previous game against Portugal, Filip Petrušev rose to the occasion with 12 points and four rebounds in Serbia’s third victory, while Marko Gudurić followed with 11 points, five rebounds, and five assists.
As for Latvia, which put up a great fight in front of their fans and even cut the deficit to just two points in the final minute, Dāvis Bertāns recorded a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, Kristaps Porziņģis added 14 points and six boards, while Rihards Lomažs scored 13.
Artūrs Kurucs also chipped in with 10 points; however, after leading 29-28 in the second period, Latvia trailed until the end of the game, cutting the lead to two (82-80) with one minute left, but not being able to score again.
Earlier in the day, in Group A, Estonia beat the Czech Republic 89-75, getting their first win of the tournament behind 16 points by Kristian Kullamae.
Closing the night, Turkey toyed with Portugal on the way to a 95-54 win as Alperen Sengun scored 20 points in 21 minutes, and Neemias Queta on the other side had 15.
Photo credit: FIBA