Djordjevic: This is a moment for Jokic to grow

WUHAN (China) - One moment of losing his cool cost Nikola Jokic the rest of the game as the Serbian center was ejected from their team's Group J decider against Spain. But Serbia head coach Sasha Djordjevic expressed his confidence that his star will learn from it and expects Jokic to show his leadership in the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 Final Phase. 

Jokic was disqualified from the Second Round game with 6:40 minutes left in the third quarter when the referee ruled that Marc Gasol had come over to Jokic and managed a jump ball situation. The 24-year-old Serbian lost his temper and expressed his disappointment to the official, who gave him a technical foul. Upon further bickering by Jokic, the referee sent him from the game with Serbia trailing 51-39. 

"I didn't like the stupid reaction of our player who should be on the floor. We can lose with him, why not - if the other team is better, but he should stay on the floor and be one of the leaders," Djordjevic told a press conference after the game. 

The coach said he and Jokic didn't need much time to clear the air after the game was over and Serbia lost 81-69 to finish second in the  group and set up a Quarter-Finals date with Poland. 

"We cleared it up in the locker room. You don't have time for long meetings. He knows. He's a tough kid, one of the greatest right now. We need him. We need him on the floor, and I would love to have him on the floor," Djordjevic said. 

The coach insisted though that no player - not even an All-NBA First-Teamer like Jokic - is irreplaceable.

"PLAYERS GROW DURING ALL THEIR CAREER, NOT ONLY UNTIL ONE POINT. THEY GROW EVERY DAY UNTIL THE LAST DAY THAT THEY PLAY. THIS IS A MOMENT FOR HIM TO GROW, TO UNDERSTAND HOW THIS COMPETITION IS PLAYED. HE'S A BIG KID SO HE WILL UNDERSTAND.”- Djordjevic

"We can play without anyone. Not just this year, but any year. You have to, you must at a level like this," the coach said. 

Still, Djordjevic doesn't expect his Denver Nuggets big man to react like that again. 

"That's an episode that we just must understand, analyze and I hope it will not happen again," he said.  "He has a great personality. Players grow during all their career, not only until one point. They grow every day until the last day that they play. This is a moment for him to grow, to understand how this competition is played. He’s a big kid so he will understand."

Serbia will need Jokic to bounce back from the loss and get past Argentina to reach the Semi-Finals.

FIBA