PRAGUE (Czech Republic) - Serbia were the clear favorite to win Group D, and they delivered with a perfect record,  two wins clear of everyone else. Nikola Jokic sat out the fourth quarter, and still was the best player in a 96-69 win over Poland on Thursday that concluded group action. 

Serbia finished the group stage at 5-0, Poland fell to 3-2. Finland, who had the tiebreaker over the Poles take second place in the group and hence coach Igor Milicic and his men drop to third place in the final standings.

Turning point: There were a number of short runs by Serbia that handed them a double digit lead early on, and it kept growing all the way until they got to 52-33 at the break. Poland was trailing by 13 early on in the third quarter, but a timeout by coach Svetislav Pesic resulted in Serbia pulling away decisively for a 25-point lead by the end of the period.

TCL Player of the Game: To think that Nikola Jokic barely broke a sweat in this FIBA EuroBasket and is still so dominant, is a scary notion. The two-time NBA MVP looked inspired in front of his Denver Nuggets teammate Aaron Gordon who was sitting courtside, as he collected 19 points on 7-of-8 shooting, done in less than 18 minutes on the floor. Jokic sat out the entire fourth quarter, and still led the game in scoring.

Stats don't lie: Serbia dominated the boxscore, but perhaps the best indicator of their exhibition were the points in the pain, where they outscored Poland 48-22.

Bottom line: Serbia were perfect in Prague and got better with each passing game. Vanja Marinkovic made his comeback after missing the last two games, Nikola Milutinov made his FIBA EuroBasket 2022 debut with 16 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field.

Serbia will face Italy in the Round of 16, while Poland take on Ukraine in Berlin. Both teams will fancy their chances of reaching the Quarter-Finals after ticking a lot of positive boxes during group stage in Czech Republic.

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FIBA