Kokoskov: 'We weren't ready to sacrifice enough to be in Tokyo' / News - Basketnews.com

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Serbia didn't make it to their fourth consecutive Olympic Games, losing the ticket to Italy in Belgrade, with Igor Kokoskov expressing his disappointment with the result and the way his team responded to the game.

Free throws this season

79%19,5Points made:19,5Accuracy:78,8%Place in standings:1Record max:30Record min:6Most made FTs:Filip PetrusevTeamOQTStatisticsSchedule

"We weren't ready as a team to sacrifice enough to book a place in Tokyo. We didn't deserve to win this game," the head coach of Fenerbahce Istanbul and Serbia NT said in the post-game press conference.

"Throughout the tournament, we didn't play well enough to deserve to be at the Olympics. Congratulations to the Italian team. They should have had a little more class when they were celebrating, but that's really up to them. We have to learn from this as a program and give our full commitment physically and mentally. Otherwise, it's just a name and names don't mean anything. We have to bring our game," he added.Asked about Vasilije Micic playing limited playing time, the Serbian tactician said it was due to a medical issue that he was unable to identify: "Everything was OK. He was part of the preparation, walkthrough, film. I put him in the starting five, but he wasn't ready to start. I had to put Avramovic in the starting line-up and he was surprised.

It just happened out of the blue. Obviously, he had some medical issues that I'm not familiar with and had to run to the lacker-room. He would have played more had he been 100 percent ready," Kokoskov explained.

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