Heavy blow for the title favorite: Serbia can no longer use the Bogdan Bogdanovic Basketball European Championship. The team captain fails for the rest of the tournament because of a thigh injury, the Serbian association KSS announced on Sunday.
Bogdanovic from the Los Angeles Clippers had suffered a muscle fiber tear in the second preliminary round game against Portugal (80:69) and was already missing against Latvia (84:80) in the third. According to KSS, the 33-year-old will now undergo therapy in the United States. Stefan Jovic takes over the role of captain.
After three wins from three games, Serbia is like the German team prematurely in the round of 16. Nikola Jokic towered against Latvia with 39 points.
The team of coach Svetislav Pesic, who had led Germany to the only European championship title to date in 1993, clearly beat Germany in preparation at the Supercup in Munich (91:81) and impressively confirms her favorite role for the Eurobasket. Other group opponents of the eight -time title winner are the Czech Republic and Turkey.
Doncics Slovenes have big problems
Slovenia is already under pressure after the second defeat. The team led by NBA superstar Luka Doncic lost France 95:10. Doncic could not prevent the bankruptcy despite 39 points. The Slovenes are the bottom of Group D.