Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo have shared the last four NBA regular season MVP awards. In 2019 and 2020 they were conquered by the Greek, in 2021 and 2022 by the Serbian. There was no better incentive to generate expectation around the match that was played on Thursday in Belgrade and that pitted the teams of the two players against each other. Serbia and Greece faced each other in a match corresponding to the qualifying phase for the FIBA ??World Cup, a tournament that will begin in August 2023 and will take place in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia. However, the sight of both teams is set on the Eurobasket, which begins next week. The center of the Denver Nuggets and the power forward of the Milwaukee Bucks, who were facing each other for the first time at an international level, were in charge of presenting their candidacies to be European champions.
The match was not a friendly, but neither was it of fundamental relevance to the aspirations of both teams on their way to the World Cup. They still have five second leg games to play in their second qualifying round group. Serbia arrived with greater need, since they had only been able to win one game out of the four they had played so far, due to Greece’s three victories. Still, the whole group is in a fist.
The two teams came out wanting to show their competitive muscle against all of Europe days before the start of the Eurobasket. Especially motivated were the two stars, who on more than one occasion saw their faces in the painting. Serbia’s starting five consisted of Vasilije Micic, Vanja Marinkovic, Vladimir Lucic, Nikola Kalinic and Nikola Jokic. The Greeks started Nick Calathes, who recently left Barça, Tyler Dorsey, Kostas Papanikolaou, Giannis Antetokounmpo and his brother Kostas.
The Serbs led from start to finish, ahead on the scoreboard in 41 minutes and 23 seconds of the match, which was resolved in extra time. However, Greece’s merit lay in its ability not to let go and always stay in the game. From the physical point of view, the Antetokounmpo brothers were in charge, always assisted by Calathes, the Hellenic game director. On the contrary, at a collective level Serbia was above, pivoting around Jokic and with Micic and Marinkovic successful from the outside to take some distance in the electronic.
Before the break bad news arrived for both teams. Micic retired after poor support, unable to walk and with notable signs of pain in his ankle. He also had to come out with discomfort Kostas Antetokounmpo. The extent of the injuries remains to be seen, with a few days to go before the start of the Eurobasket. Meanwhile, Jokic and Giannis monopolized all the lights. The Bucks player’s dazzling counterattack outings contrast sharply with the Nuggets player’s slow but precise technical gestures in the post. Athletic ability and raw power against technique and peripheral vision.
The climax of the confrontation between the two MVPs occurred with a minute and a half to go in the game. Number 15 posting against number 34, a physical duel of superhuman magnitude. Although the Greek seemed to dominate the situation from defense and had the Serb under control far from the basket, Jokic created his space and took a half-turn shot almost from the triple that went into the buzzer. A beautifully crafted action that seemed to shelve the match, with the Balkans five points up. However, a triple by Tyler Dorsey, which was the second best of his team with 16 points, sent him to overtime.
In overtime, Jokic and Lucic definitively sentenced the duel, which ended with a score of 100-94. The Denver star finished with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists; the one from Milwaukee went up to 40 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, breaking the scoring record in a European qualifying game for the World Cup. The best match of the FIBA ??windows fell on the side of Serbia, which is placed with seven points in its group, only one behind Greece and two behind the leader, Latvia. Antetokounmpo and Jokic were in charge of presenting their candidacy for the Eurobasket.
