Svetislav Pesic responds to Ataman: 'Not every contact is a foul' / News - Basketnews.com

Contrary to Ergin Ataman, Svetislav Pesic did not talk about referees much after the match. Instead, he focused on praising his team for edging out a narrow win.

Credit: FIBA Credit FIBA

Turkey mounted a 21-point comeback in the second half against Serbia but it was not enough to capture a victory. However, it was the referees who were at the center of attention after the match.

Player of the Game EFF 21 Nikola Jokic Points 24 Accuracy 10-16 Rebounds 10 Assists 0

Notably, Turkey's head coach Ergin Ataman called some of their decisions incredible and suggested that the last minutes of the fourth quarter should be investigated. Serbia's head coach Svetislav Pesic was not as straightforward after the game.

"I congratulate the team on the victory, a very important triumph. It is also very important how we played in the first half because that is the recipe for how we want to play at the EuroBasket," Pesic started off. "Excellent in defense, the best so far, very smart in the attack. This is not a surprise for me, I know that we have talent on the offensive side, now, we have to repeat these kinds of plays in defense in the next matches."

"The reason we lost our rhythm in the second was the Turkish team. They took risks, they played very aggressively, on the verge of fouls," the Serbian coach explained. "I can't say that every contact was a foul, but they were very aggressive. This is the reason why we lost control of the game. In the end, maybe it's not bad that everything played out like this because now we have EuroBasket coming up."

With the win against Turkey, Serbia vastly improved its chances of advancing to the 2023 FIBA World Cup. With a winning record of three and three, they now share third place with Belgium in Group I and have total control of the outcome.

Serbia is placed in Group D of EuroBasket 2022 together with the Netherlands, Finland, who became the first national team to advance to the World Cup, Poland, Israel, and the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, Turkey will compete in Group A against Montenegro, Georgia, Spain, Bulgaria, and Belgium.

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