FIBA World Cup 2014, Serbia prevails to reach final

FIBA World Cup 2014
Serbia progressed to the grand finale of the FIBA World Cup 2014 with a close fought 85-90 victory over France in the all-European semi-final clash. Serbia now heads to its ninth world final, although that of course takes into account when the tournament was named the World Championships and the Serbian team flew under the Yugoslavia flag. Serbia will tackle old foes the USA in the championship decider, although the US team will be favourites in Sunday’s showpiece game.

As for France, the recent success of the country continues as in the last year they have won the Eurobasket tournament for the first time and reached the final four of a World Cup for the first time since 1954. Les Bleus will now head into a Saturday showdown with Lithuania to decide third/fourth place in the FIBA World Cup 2014.

France vs. Serbia, 85-90
Serbia collected 24 rebounds through the game, but 22 of them came off the defensive board, stopping France from collecting second chance scores. An organized and unselfish Serbian attack created 19 assists to spread the scoring around the roster with six players hitting double figures in terms of scoring.

Serbia controlled the opening two quarters, dictating the floor and looking slick in attack before continuing the progress in the third quarter. However, the French hit back in one of the hottest fourth quarters of the FIBA World Cup 2014 so far, making Serbia sweat plenty before finally falling at the last hurdle.

First quarter
Milos Teodosic and Nikola Kalinic got the Serbian effort off to a good start as the team opened an early 0-4 lead in the game. France got on the board thanks to a Boris Diaw triple and he struck again with a two pointer to counter a Miroslav Raduljica slam dunk that gave Serbia a 5-9 lead. Les Blues kept pace as the teams traded baskets through the middle of the frame, but Serbia’s go to guy Teodosic started a 0-11 run that gave the Balkan team a good deficit that they maintained to lead 15-21 at the first buzzer.

Second quarter
Teodosic opened the second frame from beyond the arc and added a layup shortly after that sparked another run for Serbia, this time a 0-9 streak that extended the Serbs to 15-30. A double digit lead had been opened, but France opened its account in Q2 when Joffrey Lauvergne tipped in to make it 17-30. The French took a 6-0 run before Serbia scored again, but the game was getting away from the Eurobasket champs. Teodosic was on fire and with the help of Kalinic and others he paced Serbia to a 17-25 quarter win and a 32-46 lead at the long break.

Third quarter
Teodosic opened yet another quarter, this time sinking from downtown to extend Serbia’s lead to a seemingly unassailable 17 point advantage (32-49). Nicolas Batum would be vital for Les Bleus throughout the game and he hit his own triple to nail France’s first bucket of the second half. Nemanja Bjelica sandwiched an Antoine Diot layup with four points, but it was a quiet middle of the quarter as the baskets dried. Batum recommenced scoring as France reeled off four unanswered, but Serbia took four consecutive of their own courtesy of Nenad Kristic. The teams traded for the remainder of the third stanza, and Serbia headed into the fourth with a commanding 46-61 lead.

Fourth quarter
As it turned out, Serbia’s command on the game collapsed in the final frame as France hit a hot streak, leaving the Serbs needing most of that huge lead they had built up. Batum was the spark, heavily involved throughout the frame, he was key to Les Bleus hitting a 14-4 run during the first half of the final act. Evan Fournier was also in the groove and he hit a three point bucket to bring France within four points (61-65) with just half of the fourth left. Serbia kept calm, Bogdan Bogdanovic came from the bench to ease Serbian nerves with his own downtown field finish (61-67). The pressure was constantly on Serbia in the closing minutes, especially when France got to within three points thanks to a triple from Thomas Heurtel (79-82). However, the Serbian contingent always managed to stay an arm’s length away and eventually closed a game in tense fashion, losing the final frame 39-29.

Teodosic was the spark in Serbia’s early dominance, eventually claiming 24 points for the winners. Kristic followed with 13 points from the side, while Stefan Markovic and Raduljica hit 11 apiece and Bjelica nailed 10 points and 7 rebounds.

Batum was sensational from France, dragging the team off its feet with 35 huge but ultimately futile points. Diaw had the only double-double of the night with 13 points and 10 boards, while Heurtel hit 12 points and Fournier had 10 points thanks to a big fourth quarter.

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