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The FIBA World Cup has reached it’s culmination and the first of the semifinals sees Serbia take on the much fancied Canadians for the right to play of the gold medals. Will the size of the Serbians and their transition attack give them advantage? Can Shai lead the Canadians all the way to the final? Here is out preview of the Serbia vs Canada clash.
- Date & Time: Friday, September 08, 2023, 9:45 a.m. GMT
- Venue: Mall of Asia Arena – Manila, Philippines
Serbia vs Canada basketball predictions
Contents
Can Serbia’s experience guide them through? Will the Canadians show enough composure? Here are our Serbia vs Canada basketball predictions.
Prediction 1: Nikola Milutinov over 12.5 points @ 17/20 (1.85)
With our first prediction, we back Serbia’s starting centre Nikola Milutinov to score at least 13 points. Milutinov will have a serious height advantage in the coming match and the Serbs already showed that they know how to take advantage of that by feeding their big man inside the paint all the time.
Milutinov scored 14 or more points in 3 of the last 4 matches. He’s averaging 13.2 points per game so far this World Cup. There is no reason why now he won’t reach at least his average, especially considering how small the Canadians are inside.
Prediction 2: Kelly Olynyk under 5.5 rebounds @ 3/5 (1.60)
Our second Serbia vs Canada prediction looks at Canada’s centre Kelly Olynyk. We don’t think Olynyk will be able to get 6 or more rebounds against the tall Serbian team. The Serbs are big and so far against such opponents, Olynyk has failed to rebound well.
He had just 7 rebounds in the last 2 matches combined. Olynyk is averaging 5.3 rebounds per game so far. However, his 2 big rebounding games were against smaller opponents. In the 3 games in which Canada were clearly the smaller team Olynyk averaged just 3.5 rebounds. That gives us confidence that he will stay under his rebounds spread once more in the coming match.
Serbia vs Canada preview – can the Serbs contain Shai?
Now let’s look at the latest Serbia vs Canada predictions and team news.
Serbia news, injuries, and starting lineups
Despite coming to the World Cup without the reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic the Serbians are once again in the semifinals and competing for the medals. The Serbs defied the odds in the quarterfinals when an excellent defensive display against the unbeaten up until that point Lithuanians saw Serbia triumph 87-68.
Captain Bogdan Bogdanovic led by example in this match and he dropped 21 points on 9 of 13 shooting. Filip Petrusev also contributed big off the bench – 17 points on 7 of 8 shooting – and the Serbians really dominated inside the paint in this match.
Serbia will rely on their speed and transition offence once more. The Serbs average 24.7 points from turnovers and 21.8 fast break points. They play with the highest tempo of any of the 8 quarterfinalists and pushing the pace is going to be one of their main weapons once more.
Serbia injury report:
- Borisa Simanic (out of the tournament)
Serbia starting lineup:
S. Jovic, B. Bogdanovic, O. Dobric, N. Jovic, N. Milutinov
Canada news, injuries, and starting lineups
Canada already made history with their 100-89 win in the quarterfinals against Slovenia. Prior to this tournament the Canadians had never finished higher than 6th at a World Cup but now they can sniff the medals.
It wasn’t easy against Luka Doncic’s Slovenia and the game was finely poised at 50-50 after 2 quarters. However, the frontrunner for the MVP award Shai Gilgeous-Aleaxander took things into his own hands in the 3rd quarter and this was what brought the win. SGA is averaging 25.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists this World Cup. He’s had back-to-back 30+ point games and right now nobody seems able to slow him down.
Canada are likely to have issues inside the paint though. Powell and Olynyk are much smaller centres than Milutinov and Petrusev, so if the Canadians don’t want to be crushed at the rim their two bigs will have to rise to the occasion and defend as they have never done before.
Canada injury report:
- N/A
Canada starting lineup:
D. Powell, K. Olynyk, Z. Edey, D. Brooks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Serbia vs Canada head to head
There hasn’t been a Serbia vs Canada match before but the Canadians played former Yugoslavia 3 times in the late 90s and early 00s. Yugoslavia won the first and the third of those matches, but during the 2000 Olympics, the Canadians triumphed.
Serbia vs Canada where to watch on TV/live stream
The only way to watch any match at the FIBA World Cup in the UK is via the streaming service FIBA Courtside 1891. Meanwhile, the USA and Canada will both broadcast the tournament on their respective ESPN channels.
Serbian fans can watch the game on Sport Klub and RTS.
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