Breaking Down The Final Two Possessions Of The Turkey-Serbia Game
The semi-final matchup between Serbia and Turkey may have been the game of the tournament, and no matter how good the rest of the game was, none of it compares to the final two possessions. In each possession, defenses made a few mistakes, one offense was able to take advantage of that mistake, while the other was unable to.
Turkey’s Go-Ahead Layup
After giving up a wide open lay-up to Serbia, Turkey trailed by one point with 4.3 seconds left in the game.
With so little time on the clock, Turkey was looking to get the ball to one of their players on the move going towards the basket. We have seen what happens when you get the ball to someone going away from the basket, so this is the correct play call here from Turkey. Turkey uses a double screen to try and get Kerem Tunceri the basketball along the baseline, but it is well covered.
The second thing to focus on is Serbia’s defensive position. As you can see, all 5 Serbian defenders are up near half court with nobody playing safety back near their own basket. If I was the Serbian coach, I would have had taken the defender covering the passer and drop him back near the foul line to help protect the basket.
