Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic took to X to call out what he considered a terrible no-call from the referees during Team USA’s game against Serbia. In the clip he shared, Joel Embiid takes multiple steps after his gather-step to make a layup in the third quarter. He then remarked that he would have liked to know if Serbia was not allowed to beat Team USA.
“In what country is that not a traveling violation? P.S. Next time, please tell us in advance who we’re not allowed to beat.”
У којој земљи ово нису кораци?
П.С. Следећи пут нам унапред кажите кога не смемо да победимо. pic.twitter.com/7ssnZ34p6b
— Александар Вучић (@predsednikrs) August 9, 2024
Vucic’s comments are justified, as Joel Embiid clearly takes more than three steps to get to the basket, and it should have been called for a traveling violation. For some bizarre reason, Team USA was not called for the violation, and the game continued, as Team USA overturned the deficit to win the game and head to the gold medal game against France.
But Vucic was not the only one to criticize the referees for their performance in the game yesterday. Serbian head coach Svetislav Pesic claimed that the referees were disrespecting him and the Serbian team. Whereas Bogdan Bogdanovic revealed that the referees wouldn’t even speak to them when they tried to ask questions about certain calls.
Serbia has a right to be upset about the officiating, as one can argue that some of the missed calls caused them to fumble their lead and lose to Team USA in the fourth quarter. However, they should be held accountable for leading the game for 35 minutes but not being able to close out Team USA when they had multiple chances to do so.
Serbia Still Has Chance To Win Bronze Medal
One former referee even questioned some of the calls made against Serbia during the fourth quarter of the game. He believes that the referees were starstruck by some of the legendary players on the court, which caused them to show accidental bias toward them.
Regardless of the refereeing, Serbia needs to focus on their one remaining game at the Olympics, as they can still walk away with a bronze medal if they are able to defeat Germany. However, that is easier said than done, as Germany is the reigning FIBA World Champions, and has shown to be a dangerous team.
A bronze medal isn’t going to make Serbia happy about the loss to Team USA and the controversy surrounding it, but it will serve as a decent consolation prize to a team that far exceeded expectations in that game, and pushed an incredible team to their absolute limit.
For Serbia, winning a bronze medal will slightly soften the blow of losing such a close game to Team USA, especially one where they were in the lead for the majority of the game. Players like Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jokic will have to deliver some strong performances to help Serbia secure a medal, and make sure they don’t walk away empty-handed.
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