The coach of the Serbian national basketball team, Svetislav Pešić, said after the loss to the USA in the semi-finals of the Olympic Games that he was angry because his selection did not receive "respect from the judges".
Serbia played a phenomenal game against the "dream team" and was one step away from a historic triumph.
"In Serbia, there is a saying that whoever loses has the right to be angry. I'm angry because we didn't get respect from the referees. I have to say that, because if the best player in the world shoots four free throws in 37 minutes. If our best point guard plays 32 minutes and shoots only one shot. Then it means that strange things happened. I wish them luck. But, strange things happened," said Pešić.
Tonight, Serbia was defeated by the USA with 95:91, although it had 17 points in the first half, and 15 points at the end of the third quarter.
"I'm calm. I'm proud, but also disappointed. We didn't get respect, not as a basketball nation, but as a team. I always told the players that if they keep quiet, if they fight, the referees will reward you. We didn't have that tonight. That's how we ended up a magnificent match," he added.
In the battle for bronze, Serbia will play against Germany on Saturday.
"In less than 48 hours we play the medal game, and I immediately leave the mixing zone and go to the hotel. Of course I'm proud of how we played, especially after the game against Australia where we got 24 points behind. It cost us a lot of energy, but you saw how mentally strong we are. We managed to decide the winner with one or two balls. I'm not angry at all, with all the problems we have. You saw that Milutinov had a fever for two days, and so did Jovic. Our rotation has decreased, they gave as much as they could. Let's try to recover them. I'm not looking for an excuse," said Pešić.
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