Jokic, Micic hear MVP chants as Serbia ruin De Jong's big night

PRAGUE (Czech Republic) - Worthy de Jong played one of the best games of his career, getting 28 points for the Netherlands, but Serbia had another gear in them and were unfazed en route to a winning start, a 100-76 victory in front of a large group of their fans in Czech Republic.

The main reason for Serbia never losing their composure was the fact they have Nikola Jokic and Vasilije Micic in their ranks. Both stars played outstanding games to safely guide Serbia to a first win ahead of their matchup with the group hosts on Saturday.

Turning point: The Netherlands were a stubborn opponent on Friday night, not giving up for even a second. Their best stretch was in the beginning of the third quarter, when Worthy de Jong helped them reduce the deficit to 56-51 with five to play in third.

However, Jokic and Micic remained calm and created a 14-3 run to get back into double digits. They were on cruise control the rest of the way, even with Oranje coming back to single digit deficit a couple of times.

TCL Players of the game: Micic was impressive with a 15-point, 12-assist double-double, while Jokic finished with 19 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, sitting out the entire fourth quarter. We weren't the only undecided people on the subject of the MVP of the game - both Micic and Jokic heard MVP chants from nearly 5000 fans in the arena in Prague.

Stats don't lie: Pick your poison. Serbia were +10 in rebounds, +8 in steals, +10 in assists, -9 in turnovers, +9 in points from turnovers, +10 in fast break points, +17 in second chance points, +24 in points in the paint, +8 in points from the bench.

Bottom line: Serbia are just warming up, and that's a scary sight when they scored 100 points in this one. Vanja Marinkovic had five threes and 18 points, Dusan Ristic and Nikola Kalinic were also in double figures, all 11 players played and all 11 of them scored. Perfect start for coach Svetislav Pesic, who is still waiting for Nikola Milutinov to join.

Maurizio Buscaglia will not be disappointed with his team's performance. His guys made Serbia work, and Worthy de Jong scored 28 points in 27 minutes, done on 11-of-14 shooting from the field. Keye van der Vuurst de Vries was the only other man in double digits with 11.

They said:

"We had some bad minutes in the third quarter when they came to within five points. But we didn't go down, we stayed focused, and we finished the game easily." - Vanja Marinkovic, Serbia

"They had additional energy, motivation, without pressure. We didn't play bad, we could be better, no question, but everybody here must be aware that this is the European championship, and we have to expect every next game at this level. Against Serbia, every team wants to play their best game of the season, and this is good for us, for our process because we want to grow from game to game." - Serbia coach Svetislav Pesic

"The team fought all the time, sharing the ball, searching for a good shot, so missing or not is not the point. What is most important that we played together, team defense, team offense. We know how strong Serbia is, but it was important for us that we could compete." - Netherlands coach Maurizio Buscaglia

"It's not my body. It's the mind. It's the mental part of the game that made me make this decision (to retire from professional basketball after the FIBA EuroBasket 2022). I agree, at times it looks and it feels like 'why am I making this decision,' but I stand by it. I scored 28 today, but we can't depend on me scoring 28 every single game. Our successes come from team effort." - Worthy de Jong, the Netherlands

 

FIBA