Nikola Jokic and Serbia overcame a fiery comeback from Turkey to beat the home side 72-79 in Istanbul. Jokic finished with 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds during 25 minutes to lead Serbia.
The Serbs are now 3-3 in Group I in a two-way tie with Belgium for the third position, behind Latvia (5-1) and Greece (4-2). After trailing 31-52 early in the second half, Turkey rallied to tie the game at 71 with 3:26 for the end of the regulation.
Surprisingly, Ergin Ataman’s team remained almost scoreless the rest of the way as the Serbians finished the game with a 1-9 run. Nikola Kalinic hit a clutch three-pointer to put the visitors ahead for good.
Latvia improved to 6-1 after beating Great Britain 87 – 80 on the road to improve to 6-1 in Group I of the 2023 World Cup Qualifiers. The British dropped to 1-5 and remained without a win in the second round of the qualifiers.
Finland (7-1) beat Estonia (2-6) 76-68 and became the first European team to clinch its place in the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Sweden celebrated a 95-83 (24-23, 28-15, 18-22, 25-23) team win in the Second Round of the 2023 FIBA World Cup Qualifiers.
Group I |
Great Britain (1-5) – Latvia (6-1) 80-87
Greece (4-2) – Belgium (3-3) 85-68
Turkey (2-4) – Serbia (3-3) 72-79
Group J
Germany (7-1)- Slovenia (5-3) 90-71
Estonia (2-6) – Finland (7-1) 68-76
Israel (3-5) – Sweden (3-5) 83-95
