Stuff of dreams: Italy shock Serbia again

BERLIN (Germany) - Italy gave Hollywood screenwriters a storyline for the ages in pulling off the first upset of the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 Round of 16 with a 94-86 shock over Serbia to reach the Quarter-Finals.

One summer after surprising Serbia in the Final of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2020 in Belgrade to reach the Tokyo Games, Italy worked their team basketball magic again - and doing it without head coach Gianmarco Pozzecco who was ejected in the third quarter.

 
Turning Point: Serbia raced ahead by 11 points in the first quarter and the cushion grew to 14 points in the second quarter. Italy came back and were hanging tough down just 61-57 with under 5 minutes left in the third quarter when Pozzecco left the court in tears after being ejected from the game with a second technical foul. Italy took the lead 66-63 and were down 68-66 after 30 minutes. But Italy opened the fourth quarter with a 16-2 run to lead 82-70. Serbia could not regain the momentum.

TCL Player of the Game: Marco Spissu came up for an incredible second half as the Italian guard poured in 19 of his 22 points in the final 20 minutes. He also finished the game with 6 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Nikola Jokic's 32 points and 13 rebounds were not enough for Serbia.

 
Stats Don't Lie: Italy shot 36.2 percent from three-point range on 32 attempts per game in the Group Phase and then made 16-of-38 for 42.0 percent against Serbia. Italy committed only 7 turnovers and forced Serbia into 16 miscues for an advantage of 16-6 in points off turnovers. Italy held Serbia to 10.0 percent below their field goal shooting and 11.0 percent percent below their two-point shooting. 

Bottom Line:  Italy's quest for their third European crown - and first since 1999 - continues on Wednesday, September 14 when they take on France. Italy have now reached the Quarter-Finals for the fourth straight EuroBasket. Serbia for their part missed the Quarter-Finals for the first time under the Serbia flag since 2007.

They Said: "I just want to say thank you to our players. They played an unbelievable game. They left everything on the court. We are just proud. All of Italy is proud of this. They won three out of four quarters. They played amazing - not just the final minutes but the whole game. I think everybody enjoyed watching the game. It was great." - Italy assistant Edoardo Casalone

"The ejection of our coach touched something inside us. At the end we really played good defense. We helped each other. And as soon as we had the ball we went into offense and scored a lot of three-pointers. This put us into the lead. If we play like that - because we are shorter than the other teams - then we can dream. I’m really happy, I’m really proud of this team. Let’s keep dreaming."
(About the ejection)
"He said: 'Just win for me.' That's what he said. We just came together and did what he said, just by saying: Win for me. Because he deserves it." - Marco Spissu, Italy

"They deserved this victory. They played excellent basketball. They were more physical than us. We didn't make some open shots but more important was not having continuity on defense. We couldn't get three good defenses in a row and they improved their confidence with the open shots they made. If they didn't make the shots they got some offensive rebounds and that improved their confidence. We are of course disappointed, very disappointed because we wanted to win this game. But to win this game we needed to be in better physical shape." - Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic

"We started pretty good. Most of the first half we did what we wanted. Later on in the second half we started missing a lot of open shots which made us pretty nervous. They made basically every three-point shot and that gave them confidence and the win in the end." - Vladimir Lucic, Serbia

 
FIBA