Serbia arrived at EuroBasket 2022 as a clear favorite, ranked only second behind Slovenia. The NBA MVP Nikola Jokic led the charge with a 21.7 PPG. Their perfect 5-0 group stage record only fueled the hype. Despite crushing opponents by an average of 20 points in Group D, Serbia faced critical absences.

Star guard Bogdan Bogdanović missed the tournament after knee surgery, leaving a gap in their backcourt. Center Nikola Milutinov was also unavailable early on, testing their depth. Serbia’s title hopes were crushed on September 11, 2022, when they faced Italy in the Round of 16 at Berlin’s Mercedes-Benz Arena. Digging deeper into the 2022 EuroBasket, here’s how Serbia fell..

Tournament overview and final result of Serbia

Serbia’s flawless group stage in Prague saw them top Group D with commanding wins. They defeated the Netherlands 100-76, then overpowered the Czech Republic 90-81. Finland fell 100-70, Israel 105-85, and Poland 96-69. Their +105 point differential screamed title contender. Coach Svetislav Pešić, a veteran of Serbia’s 2001 Euro and 2002 World Cup wins, seemed to have them primed. But things started going downhill soon.

In Berlin’s Round of 16 against Italy on September 11, Serbia led by 14 in the second quarter and clung to a 68-66 edge entering the fourth. Then disaster struck. Italy unleashed a 16-2 run, burying Serbia 94-86. The shocking exit left them ninth overall. A brutal fall for a team that reached EuroBasket finals in 2009 and 2017.

The Italy game featured a late second half surge sparked by Marco Spissu, who hit six three pointers in the second half on the way to 22 points. Nicolò Melli and Simone Fontecchio combined for 40 points which provided Italy the balanced scoring Serbia could not match. Nikola Jokic delivered a herculean 32 points and 13 rebounds with a 41 efficiency rating. But Serbia’s shooting and turnovers in the fourth quarter undermined that individual effort. The loss highlighted the limits of single player dominance in knockout play.

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Serbia’s stats in EuroBasket 2022- group stage dominance

Serbia’s group stage numbers were elite. They averaged 93.2 points per game- highest in Group D, while holding opponents to just 72.2. Their offensive firepower shone brightest against Israel and Finland, where they cracked 100 points. Defensively, they suffocated Poland, allowing only 69 points.

The group totals read 466 points scored to 361 allowed which produced a net plus one hundred five point differential, and made Serbia the only team to post multiple 100 plus point games in the group stage.

Ball movement was the key. Their top 3 players combined a 14.5 assists per game, with Vasilije Micić dishing 12 assists against the Netherlands, Jokic with 4.3 APG, and Nikola Kalinić with a 2.7 APG.

Vanja Marinković’s 19-point outburst in the opener highlighted their depth. Yet turnovers lurked as a weakness. In the Italy game Serbia committed 16 turnovers to Italy’s seven, and lost the points off turnovers battle by 16 to 6. This translated directly into a scoring swing, while Italy’s three point accuracy of 16 of 38 versus Serbia’s 10 of 29 proved decisive.

Nikola Jokic’s personal performance in EuroBasket 2022

Nikola Jokic led Serbia in nearly every meaningful metric. Averaging 21.7 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game with a tournament efficiency rating near 31.7. All while delivering a group stage field goal percentage around 66.2 percent, which illustrated elite playmaking by the Joker.

His standout group stage outing against Israel produced 29 points on 84.6 percent shooting with 11 rebounds and 5 assists. Along came a tournament high efficiency rating of 46, which proved he could dominate against quality opponents, implying his individual performances to be unquestionable.

Even in the Italy loss, he delivered a heroic 32 points and 13 rebounds. “We started the game really good,” teammate Vanja Marinković noted post-tournament, but Jokic carrying the team wasn’t enough. Serbia’s offense often stalled when he sat, exposing their thin roster.

His performance cemented his status as Europe’s premier big man. Yet the early exit left his stats as a bittersweet footnote. As coach Pešić later admitted, Serbia’s system leaned too heavily on their superstar. Without Bogdanović’s scoring or Milutinov’s defense, Nikola Jokic’s historic effort couldn’t bring them the win.