By Aris Barkas/ [email protected]
PARIS, France – Svetislav Pesic defeated the USA at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, but lightning could not strike him twice
Serbia challenged the US but lost, and Pesic spoke of the “right to be angry” and also expressed his “disappointment”.
He told the Serbian press: “There is a rule that we often use in Serbia. And that is: whoever loses has the right to be angry. I am not angry at all, I am proud of everything we have achieved so far. Despite all the problems we have. You saw that Milutinov had a fever for two days and played sick. The same goes for Jovic. Our rotation has decreased. Both of them did their best. Let’s see if we can get them fit again to have a bigger rotation in the game against the Germans.”
So does anger exist? As it turns out, it is there to some extent: “I’m not looking for excuses, I just want to say… Whoever loses has the right to be angry. Why am I angry? Because we didn’t get any respect from the referees here. Not only in this game. I don’t talk about it too much, but I have to say it. Because when one of the best players in the world, if not the best, shoots only four free throws in 37 minutes and has the ball in his hands every other attack. And when our second best player, Bogdanovic, shoots only one free throw in 32 minutes and has the ball in his hands every second or third attack, then strange things happen.”
Nevertheless, Pesic congratulated his opponent, but also spoke of “lack of respect”: “I don’t underestimate them, I congratulate the Americans and wish them success in the final. But strange things happened tonight. I don’t know if you saw it. I’m calm. I’m not angry, I’m proud, I’m disappointed because we didn’t get respect from the referees for this team, for Serbia as a basketball nation. And that’s one of the reasons why we didn’t finish this great game we played today. But that’s the way it is. We have to forget about it and prepare for the next game.”
Photo credit: FIBA
