Serbia, USA win big to seal Semi-Finals spots

MANILA (Philippines) - The first two spots of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Semi-Finals have been secured by Serbia and USA in resounding wins.

Serbia were the first to advance, taking down the upstart Lithuania squad, 87-68. It was another masterclass performance by Bogdan Bogdanovic who scored 21 points on just 13 attempts, maintaining his status as a contender for the Top Scorer this year.

USA were next to move forward, responding with a dominant 100-63 victory over Italy. The perennial World Cup contenders made sure to silence the doubters after their loss to Lithuania, leading from nearly start to finish.

Mikal Bridges led the team with 24 points and took a break early on, leaving Tyrese Haliburton to put on a show in the second half - ending with 18 points (all on 6 made three-pointers on 8 attempts), 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.

The next two spots of the Semi-Finals will be competed for between Germany and Latvia and Canada and Slovenia on 6 September.

GER v LAT - 16:45 Local Time (Preview) CAN v SLO - 20:30 Local Time (Preview) [/unordered]

 The complete FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 final phrase bracket is here.

Lithuania and Italy will now play in the Classification 5-8 with a first game on September 7.

These two teams are also out of contention for direct qualification to the Olympic Games next summer as one of the two best-ranked European teams at the World Cup.

With Serbia already qualified to the Semi-Final, and soon to be joined by the winner of the Germany v Latvia Quarter-Final, there will be at least two teams from Europe in the Semi-Finals.

Lithuania and Italy will play next summer in the Olympic Qualifying Tournaments.

For more information on the direct qualification to Paris 2024, please check here.

FIBA