Lithuania, sweet-shooting Serbia ready for next phase

Serbia in the Fiba World Cup. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

If there’s one skill Serbia takes pride in, it’s shooting.

“Serbia is a country where you shoot. We shoot, we know how to shoot, especially when you have 12 guys who can shoot,” said Vanja Marinkovic after his team’s 83-65 victory over South Sudan on Wednesday that gave the Eastern Europeans a sweep Group B of the 2023 Fiba World Cup at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

And that’s from a guy who probably wasn’t the best spokesman for Serbia’s ability to put the ball through a hoop. Marinkovic finished with eight points but missed five of his seven attempts from the field and was his team’s poorest shooter on Wednesday, percentage-wise (28.6 percent).

But with Nikola Jovic making all his nine attempts on Wednesday (4-4 2-point field goal (FG), 5-5 3-point FG) for 25 points and fellow NBAer Bogdan Bogdanović adding 23, the Serbians are now ready for the tougher grind ahead.

“Now we have to play against Italy, we have to rest, keep our minds sharp, body ready and play a good game,” Marinkovic said.

Clash with Americans

Also ready for the next round is Lithuania, which also swept its group matches at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“We showed that we can win those three games, so I’m happy with that,” double-double expert Jonas Valanciunas said after the Lithuanians’ 91-71 rout of fellow NBA player Nikola Vučević and Montenegro on Tuesday.

“But we’re not done yet,” he continued. “We have big pictures ahead of us and now we’re going to face super strong teams so it’s gonna be fun.”

Lithuania will be facing Team USA and either Greece or New Zealand in the second round.

Team USA will be the biggest challenge for the Lithuanians.