Bogdan Bogdanovic-less Serbia crushes Czechia

Sep 1, 2025 9:45 PM

Serbia are learning how to live without their leader Bogdan Bogdanovic, but they keep finding answers. Against Czechia, coach Svetislav Pesic leaned heavily on his size and strength inside, and the strategy worked to perfection. Serbia rolled to an 82-60 win, improving to 4-0 and sending Czechia out of the tournament.

The game felt one-sided from the start. With Czechia missing key frontcourt players, Serbia’s interior power was always going to be too much. The Czechs attempted 11 threes in the opening quarter, hitting just one, while Serbia relentlessly punished the paint, racing ahead 27-5.

At one point, Pesic even fielded a lineup with Nikola Jokic, Nikola Jovic, and Nikola Milutinov together – an impossible matchup for the undersized Czechs. The final margin in points in the paint told the whole story: 52-20.

Nikola Milutinov stood out in particular. After a quiet start to the tournament, he delivered his best performance so far: 12 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting, along with 7 rebounds and 2 steals. His efficiency rating of 19 reflected how much he elevated his game compared to earlier rounds.

For Czechia, the night was defined by missed shots. They opened 2-of-19 from the field and never recovered. As one observer put it, basketball sometimes really is that simple: if the ball doesn’t go through the hoop, there’s no way forward.

The victory secured Serbia’s unbeaten streak and set up a mouth-watering clash with Türkiye to decide first place in Group A. It also meant Latvia, the hosts, were guaranteed a spot in the Round of 16 thanks to tiebreaker advantages, while Czechia were officially eliminated at 0-4.

But Serbia’s celebrations came with a concern: Vasilije Micic exited the game after a rib injury on a Tomas Kyzlink drive and did not return, leaving Pesic with another health issue to monitor.

The Serbian players acknowledged how different things feel without Bogdanovic but insisted they are using his absence as motivation.

“Last night, it was emotional, we were sad to hear the news. But we know what to do. He’s here with us, he’s following us, we stay in touch with him, and we are playing for him and using this as our added motivation for the rest of the championship,” said Stefan Jovic.

Nikola Jovic echoed the same belief in their strength as a unit.

“Yeah. We believe in us. That’s all. I wouldn’t say we think about ourselves as the best team out here, this and that, but we know how good we are. We just have to prove it to everybody. We lost (Bogdan Bogdanovic), but still I feel like we have a really, really good team and we know what to do.”