By Semih Tuna/ Stuna@eurohoops.net
Riga, Latvia – Serbia defeated Latvia and recorded its third win in a row at EuroBasket, officially booking a place in the final stage of the tournament in Riga.
After the game, head coach Svetislav Pešić shared his remarks:
“First of all, congratulations to my players for this important win. No more, no less. Like always, the game was as expected — tough, close. From the middle of the first quarter we were in front, and if you analyze the result, everything was under our control. A difficult game, both teams played excellent basketball with high concentration, especially if you look at the free throws: Serbia 18/18, Latvia 22/23. Of course, this is only one game, not the last game of the tournament. We must focus on the next one. Honestly, the best thing would be if it finished now, but we must keep playing — the next game, and the next one… The most important thing is to control our health and check the situation with Bogdan. With this attitude, defense, and concentration, we can control our destiny.”
After that, one journalist tried to ask Ognjen Dobrić if he and Latvia’s coach — his former coach at Virtus Bologna, Luca Banchi — exchanged some heated words after the game. The Crvena Zvezda guard quickly dismissed the suggestion:
“We have a great relationship. There was nothing between us, all is good,” said Dobrić.
But then Pešić intervened. It’s safe to say he didn’t like the question, especially since it was the first one at the press conference after his and Dobrić’s opening remarks.
“What are those questions? Let’s talk about basketball. Nothing happened, the game ended, everyone is excited. What do you want now? I don’t want to hear those questions — you shouldn’t ask them anymore. What’s going on? We are talking about basketball, we won, and you don’t have any other questions? Don’t ask me anything until the end of EuroBasket,” said Pešić assertively.
When the tension eased, he spoke about Nikola Jokić’s heroics against Latvia, with the Denver Nuggets center posting a new national team record of 39 points.
“Nikola Jokić — he dominates, but he is a Serbian national team player. He’s our player. What else do you want?”
Regarding Bogdan Bogdanović’s injury, Pešić didn’t have any news.
“Bogdan injured his hamstring. He stayed in the room to rest. We’re waiting for the results, we’ll see what happens. It’s the kind of injury where you need to wait 24 hours to know the exact severity. So we can’t say anything yet,” said Serbia’s head coach.