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Serbia vs Australia: Olympic Games – Quarterfinals
In one of the most interesting quarterfinals of the 2024 Paris Olympics tournament, Serbia will face Australia.
Nikola Jokic is on top of his game
Serbia got the job done in the group stage and moved on to the knockout stage. No one expected them to beat Team USA in the opener and they lost 110-84. Thay loss didn’t take and toll on the team’s confidence, and Serbia bounced back with a 107-66 win over Puerto Rico. In the last matchday, Serbia defeated South Sudan 96-85. Atlanta Hawks’ Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 30 points in that game becoming Serbia’s all-time leading scorer. The reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic recorded 22 points and 13 rebounds.
Australia has a solid team
Australia is moving on to the quarterfinals after winning only one game in the group stage. They started well beating Spain 92-80, but then lost 93-83 to Canada and 77-71 to Greece. Houston Rockets’ Jock Landale led the Aussies with 17 points and 8 rebounds in that one while Patty Mills scored 13 points.
Head-to-head
Australia defeated Serbia 84-73 in a friendly game in Abu Dhabi right before the Olympics. Serbia won twice at the 2016 Olympics. The score was 95-80 in the group stage and 87-61 in the semifinals. These two also played in the 2010 World Cup when Serbia won 94-79.
Prediction and Conclusion
This will be an intense quarterfinal with plenty of NBA players on both sides. Serbia has Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Hornets’ Vasilije Micic, and the Heat’s Nikola Jovic. Australia is led by veteran Patty Mills, Rockets center Jock Landale, Mavs’ Josh Green and Dante Exum, and others. Australia beat Serbia just a couple of weeks ago, but Serbia is still a 7.5-point favorite in this one. Serbia’s coach, Svetislav Pesic, knows how to win on the big stage since he led this team to the 2002 World Cup title in Indianapolis. This may be a tight game, and the class of Jokic will make the difference as the Joker will take his team to the semis.
