MIES (Switzerland) – An open wound from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 campaign is Canada’s Semi-Final defeat to Serbia.
Gilgeous-Alexander, spectacular in Jakarta and Manila, made the All-Star Five after leading his country to the podium at the World Cup for the first time, and Canada also clinched their first Olympic berth since the 2000 Sydney Games.
Ognjen Dobric played almost 28 minutes and guarded Gilgeous-Alexander
Yet the 95-86 setback to Serbia, according to Vasilije Micic, festers for his former teammate with the Thunder.
“He even said yesterday that he couldn’t wait to play against Serbia again and he would play, as he said, the best game of his life,” said Vasilije Micic to B92.
Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 24.5 points per game at the World Cup yet Serbia held him to 15 – his second lowest scoring game of the World Cup.
Guards Ognjen Dobric and Aleksa Avramovic took turns guarding the 1.98M (6’6″) playmaker on September 8 and received most of the plaudits yet everyone chipped in to limit Gilgeous-Alexander’s impact.
“So he definitely remembered Alexa and the whole national team,” Micic said. “But I think bronze is a great achievement for them, for the (Canada) national team, because they won a medal for the first time.”
Canada and Serbia could end up facing each other again as soon as this summer at the Olympics.
Micic didn’t play at the World Cup yet he wants to suit up at the Olympics in France.
“We all want to play, I said it a long time ago, I think it’s a subject that has been said many times,” Micic said.
Micic played for Serbia at FIBA EuroBasket 2022 and hopes to be with the team at the Olympics
“I think the moment when someone is not playing, it’s the biggest internal struggle of this individual because the most logical thing is that we all love to play, and yet on the other hand, the seasons are exhausting. As for the Olympics, I hope everything goes well and we are healthy.”
Micic celebrated Serbia’s great success at the World Cup, even if he wasn’t in the team. As it turns out, he also benefited from Serbia’s performance.
“But of course, this silver medal and this victory in the semi-final had a lot of influence and made me feel like it was an easier task when I got here, in terms of respect from them,” he said.
FIBA