Đorđević (Serbia): «Very important victory for us» (@FIBA Qualifiers)

Serbia scored their second win in World Cup Qualification Tournament after beating Georgia 105 – 87 at home court.

In almost full “Aleksandar Nikolić” Hall, Serbian team scored another victory, and after the game head coach Aleksandar Đorđević was satisfied with the outcome.

“This is a very important victory for us, I am not sure that players are aware of how important win this was”, said Đorđević at the beginning of press conference after the game.

“I am very proud to coach this group of people. All my emotions are very positive about all this, and I am very thankful that I have opportunity to work with this guys, I am very satisfied personally and as a coach because they showed how professional they are, they showed quality and knowledge. I want to congratulate their coaches and coaches that worked with them when they were younger because they made our job much easier now in senior national team”, continued Đorđević who again emphasise importance of playing for national team.

“We got great group of people with excellent energy and they showed they want to wear this gear, to play for their country. It is important for everyone to see that and I am hoping everyone saw it. I think that players showing with everything they doing how much they want to play for Serbia. Also, thanks everyone who came to support this team, it means a lot, especially for players. Now we are expecting next challenges proudly”, said “Sale Nacionale” after the great game against Georgia.

Next step is in February, and first game will be in Munich against Germany, so Đorđević will probably gather the team in Munich.

“I think we will all gather in Munich. I am coach of Bayern, so it is better to train there before the game against Germany, and after that match we will travel to Vienna to play against Austria”, said head coach of Serbian national team who still don’t know who will play for Serbia then.

“I don’t have answer to question if we are going to play with EuroLeague players or not. Because lots of clubs don’t allow their players to compete in this Qualification Tournament. For example, Stefan Birčević wanted to play in both games for Serbia, and his team is playing competition under FIBA organization, and they didn’t allow him to play tonight, only against Austria. So, not only clubs that are competing in EuroLeague don’t allow their players to play, other clubs are also saying no to players who wants to compete for their country. And this is not good for basketball, not just Serbian team, but all other coaching stuffs have same problems as we do. We don’t know who will play, and in these competitions is good to see best players on the court. When best players are playing, the crowd is interesting to watch those games, sponsors are interested to invest in these competitions and TV stations are interested to cover all of that”, finished Đorđević press conference.

Ilija Đoković, one of the newcomers thanked his teammates for the important win and team Georgia for fair play.

“This was very difficult game for us, especially at the beginning but in the end we won, and that is what matter the most. I want to thank my teammates for this win and also want to thank Georgia team for fair play”, briefly said the player from Borac Čačak.

Đoković scored 5 points with 2 rebounds in this victory, but the three points shot was made by him in key moment of the game, for the result 21 – 21 in the first quarter 30 seconds before the end of that quarter.