Towering Serbia outclass Puerto Rico, extend winning streak to four

WUHAN (China) -  Serbia extended their FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 winning streak to four games after outclassing Puerto Rico 90-47 on Friday in Wuhan. 

Five Serbia players scored 10 points or more each as the No. 4 team in the FIBA World Rankings presented by NIKE stayed undefeated.

Nemanja Bjelica led all scorers with 18 points off the bench, Nikola Jovic contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds,  Boban Marjanovic impressed 16 points, while David Huertas - the only Puerto Rican to score in double digits - finished with 11 points.

At the end of the regulation it was a one-sided encounter, in which the Europeans used all 12 players for at least four minutes each. 

Turning Point: Although Puerto Rico fought throughout the first half, they never really posed a threat to Serbia as such. The European powerhouse opened the scoreboard with three-pointer from Stefan Bircevic sixteen seconds into the game and never trailed.  

TCL Player of the Game: The 2.21m (7ft 3in) Boban Marjanovic's size played a huge part in Serbia's fourth straight win in the tournament. The Dallas Mavericks new recruit - the tallest player in the tournament - hit 7-of-8 from the field to finish with 16 points and 4 rebounds. 

Stats Don't Lie: Serbia not only out-rebounded Puerto Rico 48-26 and moved the ball better with 30 assists compared to Puerto Rico's 11, but they totally dominated the painted area, outscoring the the islanders in that part of the floor 44-16.

At the end regulation, it came as no surprise that Serbia secured yet another big-margin win, their fourth straight after beating Angola (105-59), Philippines (126-67) and Italy (92-77).

Bottom Line:  After beating Tunisia in their Group C's last game, Puerto Rico headed to Wuhan looking to cause the biggest shock in the tournament so far, but Serbia never allowed it to happen. Serbia reminded everyone why they are legitimate title contenders outplaying Puerto Rico at all levels of the game.

They Said: "It doesn't matter who gets this award. It doesn't matter for us who gets it, as long as we are winning. That's the most important thing, we are all happy and satisfied. (Spain) will be tough, they have an extraordinary team, the whole team, and it's always hard to play against them. Especially against Marc Gasol, who achieved so many things in his career, was NBA defensive player of the year, NBA champion now... But we have a long bench and I believe we will be prepared for everything." - Serbia center Boban Marjanovic.

"It was an important game for us, a tough one. We had a serious approach, executed well, and we didn’t give Puerto Rico not only one chance to come back. This is what we have right now. We are thinking already about the next match.

"We saw what they did in their group. They won a couple of games with the last shot. We knew that we needed to be more aggressive with the ones who attack the both defensively and offensively. That’s what we did. We prepared the game well, we knew what the expect, and I believe we a serious job. It was a good game." - Serbia head coach Sasha Djordjevic

"Serbia is a great team. We could have played better on the defense. We have another game on Sunday, and we'll try tom focus on that." - Puerto Rico forward Renaldo Balkman

"We played against the team that is favorite to win [World Cup]. We did what we had to do, we couldn't compete, we'll now focus on the next game." - Puerto Rico head coach Eddie Cassiano

FIBA