Serbia and Greece was a highly-anticipated matchup that featured teams led by the only two winners of the NBA MVP award over the past four years, in Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, and neither the current or the former MVPs disappointed and it was the Serbs who managed to claim victory, 100-94 in over time in front of a record crowd of 19,150.
In his first official game with his national team since 2019 Giannis did not disappoint, turning in a monster performance I registering an international career-high of 40 points to go along with 8 rebounds and 5 assists.
Up by 8 points with two minutes to go in regulation, Serbia seemed poised to a vigorously-contested, but ultimately comfortable win, but Greece stormed back, tying the game on a three-pointer from Tyler Dorsey that sent the game into overtime.
In the extra frame, Jokic had his fingerprints all over the game, making plays and scoring six consecutive points to give the Serbians a 97-92 lead with 78 seconds remaining.
Jokic ended the night with 29 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, Vladimir Lucic scored 15, Ognjen Jaramaz had 14 and Nikola Milutinov chipped in with 12.
In a losing effort Tyler Dorsey scored 16 and Thanasis Antetokounmpo grabbed 5 rebounds to go along with 12 points.
Neither team came away unscathed from a health standpoint, with Serbian guard Vasilije Micic going down in first half with an ankle injury, on the Greek side, Kostas Antetokounmpo also exited the game in the first half with irritation in his right patella tendon.
