Nedovic warns Serbia need to forget in order to repeat

BELGRADE (2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments) – Nemanja Nedovic has full faith in Serbia ahead of Saturday's final at the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade, but his reasons do not have to do with the fact his team prevailed 87-81 when the two teams met in the tournament opener.

"Defence is our signature. If we play as we can on the defensive end, nobody can beat us." - Nedovic

As the young combo guard told FIBA.com, Puerto Rico have found plenty of good reasons to renew faith in themselves since that game and therefore Serbia have no room for complacency if they want to earn the ticket to Rio 2016.

FIBA.com: Serbia executed with surgical precision in the Semi-Final, will reproducing this in the Final be the key for you to get to Rio?
Nedovic: We played a great game from the first minute, we got into rhythm from start to finish and we have 40 more minutes to make it to the Olympics. I value our defence most, our defence is our signature. I think that if we play as we should and we can on the defensive end, nobody can beat us. On offence of course we have talented players and they can score, they will always contribute, but our defence is the basis.

FIBA.com: Will the hardest part be to forget the fact that you defeated Puerto Rico five days ago and get ready for a whole new game?
Nedovic: Yes, it can be really tricky when you play a team you have already beat in a tournament. We cannot think that we are already in the Olympics, we have to take Puerto Rico really seriously, we beat them once but they they have really experienced players like [Carlos] Arroyo and [Juan Jose] Barea, with NBA experience and they are a serious team. Maybe it was a bit easy in the first game but the final will be a totally different case. They won both their games after they lost to us and, to be honest, against Latvia they were the underdogs. So they have proven they are really dangerous.

FIBA.com: The more fans flock to Belgrade Arena, the better Serbia plays, but do you feel the pressure mounting as you are entering the most crucial 40 minutes?
Nedovic: We don't feel pressure, instead we have managed to use the fans' energy to play better. We had some shaky moments in the first games but today it was great for 40 minutes. I hope the fans can keep up the same atmosphere and hopefully we will end up celebrating together the ticket to the Olympics.

FIBA