Jokic played, but the opponent was Australia, who played a similar game to the United States.
The Australian basketball team defeated Serbia 84-73 in a friendly that concluded on Sunday morning (ET). Serbia lost despite Jokic’s double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds.
Serbia opened the game with a layup by Vasilia Michic (Charlotte) off a 2-1 pass from Jokic to open the scoring.
In the first quarter, with Serbia playing outside passing and Australia playing on the counterattack, the Aussies jumped out to an 8-4 lead on back-to-back three-pointers by Patty Mills, 사설 토토사이트 and the score remained close at 20-15 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw a fierce battle under the basket. Australia continued to poke from inside and outside the arc, while Serbia pressured with the physicality of Nikola Militunov. Down 28-27 with five and a half minutes to play, Serbia allowed a game-changing three-pointer from Patty Mills to cut the deficit back to 34-39. However, a steal with five seconds left in the quarter gave the hosts a one-point lead, 40-39, at halftime.
In the third quarter, the game continued to be tightly contested. With about four minutes left in the quarter, a scuffle resulted in Australia’s Exum falling to the floor. The third quarter ended with Australia holding a three-point lead, 62-59.
With the score 69-67 in favor of Australia with just over five minutes to play, Patty Mills hit a mid-range jumper, Nick Kaye hit a three-pointer, and Exum hit a steal to give Australia an 11-point lead, 80-69, with just under four minutes to play. With just over a minute to go, the score remained close, and the game ended 84-73.
On the night, Patty Mills had a dominant performance with 28 points, two rebounds, five assists and two steals, and a +22 RPM (relative player rating).
Jokic had 14 points and 14 rebounds for Serbia, while Filip Petrushev added 17 points.