Serbia’s World Cup bid off to a flying start
SHANGHAI (AP) — Serbia’s push toward unseating the United States as World Cup champion is off and running.
Bogdan Bogdanovic made his first four 3-point attempts to help his team take control early on, All-NBA center Nikola Jokic didn’t even start and the Serbians still had plenty on the way to easing past Angola 105-59 on Saturday in the first game of the World Cup.
“We played a great game from the beginning until the end,” Serbia forward Nikola Milutinov said. “We were tough. We were strong. Mentally we were ready.”
Bogdanovic scored 24 points on 8 for 10 shooting for Serbia (1-0 in Group D), which lost gold-medal games to the U.S. at the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
The lead was 50-32 at the half, and Serbia — which has made clear that it came to this World Cup believing it can win gold — opened the third quarter on a 15-2 burst to turn the game into a runaway.
“It’s a good start,” Serbia coach Sasha Djordjevic said. “But it’s just the start. It’s a long way. We know how to get to where we want to be. We just have to stay humble, stay focused.”
Jokic and Milutinov each had 14 for the winners, and Boban Marjanovic added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Jokic was 3 for 3 from 3-point range, and Serbia went 13 for 20 from long range.
Carlos Morais scored 15 for Angola, which was outrebounded 41-19 and shot only 36 percent. Leonel Paulo scored 10 for Angola; take the combined 10 for 18 shooting by Morais and Paulo away, and the rest of the Angolan lineup shot a mere 11 for 41 — 27%.
“We didn’t play the style of play consistently enough to have a chance to compete with them,” said Angola coach Will Voigt, a native of Cabot, Vermont.
Angola center Yanick Moreira was less diplomatic.
“We got our (butt) kicked. That’s it,” Moreira said. “I’m sorry about my language, but I don’t want to embarrass my country. When you come to the World Cup, you’ve got to be ready to play.”
Serbia used 11 of its 12 players by the end of the first quarter. The only Serbian who didn’t play was Nemanja Bjelica, sidelined with what Djordjevic said was knee inflammation caused by a cyst. Bjelica will be re-evaluated on Sunday.
PUERTO RICO 83, IRAN 81
At Guangzhou, David Huertas scored 32 points, Javier Mojica’s bank shot with 0.7 seconds left was the game-winner and Puerto Rico prevailed despite being down by 17 with 7:55 remaining.
Gary Browne scored 12 for Puerto Rico in the Group C opener for both teams.
Hamed Haddadi and Behnam Yakhchalidehkordi each scored 22 for Iran.
Huertas tied the game with a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left, then made another 3 with 16.1 ticks remaining for a 3-point lead. Haddadi made a deep 3-pointer from the right wing with 4.4 seconds left, but Mojica took an inbounds pass on the ensuing Puerto Rico possession and connected from the left side of the lane for the deciding points.
At Beijing, Poland got its first World Cup win in 52 years.
Michal Sokolowski scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds, and Poland — back in the World Cup for the first time since 1967 — topped Venezuela in a Group A opener for both teams. Mateusz Ponitka scored 15 for the winners, and Poland finished with five players in double figures.
“We played to our identity, really good team basketball,” Poland coach Mike Taylor said.
Pedro Chourio scored 15 for Venezuela.
At Wuhan, Russia rallied in the final minutes to hold off upset-minded Nigeria and get what may be a key win in Group B.
Mikhail Kulagin led the Russians with 16 points. Nigeria had six players in double figures, led by 18 from Josh Okogie. His 3-pointer midway through the fourth quarter put Nigeria up 71-63, but the Russians ended the game on a 19-6 run.
LATER SATURDAY
Italy meets the Philippines in Group D, China plays Ivory Coast in Group A, Argentina plays South Korea in Group B, and Spain faces Tunisia in Group C.
SUNDAY SCHEDULE
Group E: Turkey vs. Japan, Czech Republic vs. United States
Group F: New Zealand vs. Brazil, Greece vs. Montenegro
Group G: Dominican Republic vs. Jordan, France vs. Germany
