Serbia’s head coach, Svetislav Pesic, spoke at a press conference after the final game of the FIBA World Cup.
Pesic was unable to win his second World Cup as a coach, as his team was defeated by Germany in a dramatic final.
“Congratulations to Germany for an excellent game. They deserved the victory, playing very high-quality basketball for a continuous 40 minutes, very physically. When a team like Germany wins every game, you have to congratulate them. For such a game, we needed a deeper rotation. We didn’t know if Milutinov would play before the game due to certain issues after the Canada match. The medical team did everything they could to get him ready,” Pesic commented.
Serbia’s head coach, Svetislav Pesic, spoke at a press conference after the final game of the FIBA World Cup.
Pesic was unable to win his second World Cup as a coach, as his team was defeated by Germany in a dramatic final.
“Congratulations to Germany for an excellent game. They deserved the victory, playing very high-quality basketball for a continuous 40 minutes, very physically. When a team like Germany wins every game, you have to congratulate them. For such a game, we needed a deeper rotation. We didn’t know if Milutinov would play before the game due to certain issues after the Canada match. The medical team did everything they could to get him ready,” Pesic commented.
Message to players?
“I told them what I said from the beginning. That we came here to accomplish our plan, which was to secure our spot in the Olympics and, if possible, win a medal. We won the silver. Now, let’s try to achieve another success and win the gold medal. I am proud of them. We’ve been on this journey for a long time, together since August 17th. We live together every day.
We’ve become good friends, more than just a coach-player relationship. I love them all; they believe in what we do, and I believe in them and their dedication. When you’re dedicated, you can make up for what you lack. We had those problems. Would we have won even with that situation? You never know in a final. We were missing depth in our rotation, Milutinov played at his own risk. We lost Dobric, one of our best players in the tournament. Without him, it’s a bit different. I’m not claiming we would have won,” Pesic added.