MIES (Switzerland) - Nikola Jokic made his return to the court, playing at home for the first time since a very successful Window 3, and fired Serbia to an 90-87 win over France.
Roared on by the fans in the packed Belgrade Arena, Jokic pulled the strings with his scoring, his rebounding and passing. It was business as usual. And that was even with Victor Wembanyama playing for France.
Jokic finished with a game-high 20 points, although had just 2 in the final quarter when France threatened to come back from a double-digit deficit.
Serbia did hold on, getting solid contributions on the night not just from the Joker but also Nikola Militunov, Aleksa Avramovic and Nikola Djurisic.
Wembanyama played for the first time with Les Bleus since helping them capture the silver medal at the Paris Olympics. He and France will be charged up for the next friendly meeting against Serbia in Orleans on Sunday.
The story of the game
Terry Tarpey, back in the France team for the first time since the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, drilled a 3-pointer from the corner for the first points of the game.
Yet Serbia opened the contest with their usual determination to get good shots, many of them layups, which helped them take an early advantage.
Each team had four steals in the opening quarter, and but also six turnovers. It was a little sloppy at times.
Matthew Strazel started for France and hit a couple of jump shots from the elbow but France struggled to get into an offensive flow in the opening frame.
Djurisic, meanwhile, came off the bench and had a sudden impact, particularly with his defense. He blocked a shot and also came up with a steal. When Serbia got into transition, they were tough to stop.
France's fortunes changed when Sylvain Francisco, Amine Noua and Maxime Raynaud entered the game. They showed an intensity that the starters had lacked and Noua in particular helped by knocking down a couple of 3-pointers.
Rudy Gobert struggled early for France but he found better form in the second quarter and had a couple of buckets.
When Wembanyama came back into the game, France were playing like a different team. Wemby blocked a shot at the rim and also had a reverse dunk off a long alley-oop pass from Noua. It was jaw-dropping stuff.
Nemanja Dangubic and Evan Fournier traded 3-pointers at the end of the quarter and Serbia led 46-45 at half-time.
France seemed to lose all their rhythm at the break and hurt their cause at the start of the second half with turnover after turnover, which Serbia capitalized on by getting into fast breaks and scoring to build an 11-point lead.
Militunov was terrific, confidently taking jumpers and making them. He even hit a 3-pointer on the night.
Avramovic was lively on defense and wreaked havoc, and the Serbia shooters got hot.
In one bad stretch of the fourth quarter for France, Strazel forgot that Avramovic is an elite defender and got careless with the ball as he crossed mid-court.
Avramovic took it away from him and went in for an uncontested layup.
It felt like the game was over with several minutes still to play.
But in the fourth quarter, France made a run, with Gerald Ayayi, Strazel and Nadir Hifi among those forcing turnovers and getting the visitors into transition.
That miscue by Strazel, after Avramovic's layup, lit a fire under the Frenchman. He dove on the floor to win a loose ball and that led to a bucket for the visitors.
He also picked up a loose ball and immediately drained a 3 to cut the deficit to 7.
Gerald Ayayi used his hounding defense to take the ball away from Serbia and then went in for a dunk.
Serbia struggled to close. They missed free-throws.
Ultimately, France had possession down 3 late but Serbia fouled Francisco instead of allowing the visitors to attempt a game-tying shot.
He made both free-throws but the second was waved off after France were penalized for getting into the lane too soon to rebound.
Serbia made just 1 of 2 free-throws on the ensuing possession, once again giving France one final chance to tie. Francisco attempted a 3 from the wing but Avramovic, like a Marvel hero, stretched out and blocked the shot.
Francisco got the ball back and put up a desperation shot but it fell short.
The player of the game
The three-time NBA MVP and arguably best player in the world, Jokic did a little bit of everything to lead Serbia to victory. He had 18 points through the first three quarters and served as the team's coach on the floor.
The stats of the game
France's 22 turnovers killed them, and Serbia survived 21 turnovers themselves. Militunov's 15 points on excellent jump shooting probably saved Serbia in this game. But everything always goes back to Jokic. He does it all. In this case, it was 9 rebounds and 8 assists to go with his scoring.
Noua raised eyebrows with his performance. Wembanyama only had 10 points but Noua was outstanding with 14 to lead the visitors.
The takeaways from the game
Serbia will know they can beat most teams on most nights, yet they need to be more ruthless late and put opponents away. Their wayward free-throw shooting in the fourth quarter especially kept the door open for a French comeback.
France lacked sharpness and should be breathing fire when the teams meet again in Orleans on Sunday.
Winning a friendly isn't the most important thing when teams are tuning up for European Qualifiers, as both France and Serbia are.
Yet it felt like this was a game Serbia could not afford to lose. Certainly not at home after building a double-digit lead and especially not with Jokic on the floor. They, took lack sharpness and that should improve come Sunday.
France coach Frederick Fauthoux will know that his team will not win big games if they turn the ball over as cheaply as they did tonight.
FIBA