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Jakarta (ANTARA) – Serbia managed to qualify for the final round of the FIBA ​​World Cup 2023 after defeating the NBA stars of the Canadian team by beating them 95-86 in the semi-final match final held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila, Philippines, on Friday.

Serbian coach Svetislav Pesic asked his players to play more aggressively, rely on their physicality and pressure their opponents into stealing the ball.

Citing the statistical data of the match on the official FIBA ​​website, Serbia made 8 steals which were always converted into points. Aleska Avramovic was the most influential player in putting pressure on the Canadian players, particularly targeting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who was often her team's point machine.

By playing with more pressure and really disrupting Canada's game, Bogdan Bogdanovic and his colleagues managed to reduce Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's point production to just 15 points, while in five of six matches at this World Cup , he scored more than 20 points.

Also read: Bogdanovic dedicates his victory to a colleague who lost a kidney

As a result, Serbia was almost in the lead throughout the match with a maximum point difference of 17 points. Canada's shooting accuracy also declined to 48 percent, while Serbia recorded 62 percent field goals.

Bogdan Bogdanovic was the top scorer with 23 points, Ognjen Dobric and Nikola Milutinov both scored 16 points, Marko Guduric 12 points and Aleksa Avramovic 10 points.

This time, Canada's top scorers were RJ Barrett with 23 points, Dillon Brooks with 16 points, SGA with 15 points and Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 10 points.

Serbia qualified for the final and repeated their history in the same competition in 2014. However, at that time they were defeated by the United States in the final. Now, Serbia will face Germany in the FIBA ​​World Cup 2023 final on Sunday (10/9).

Also read: Serbia reaches FIBA ​​World Cup semi-finals for third time
Also read: In addition to reaching the quarter-finals, Canada also qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games