I’ve seen multiple comments on multiple social media platforms where Serbian fans are suggesting they were the true winners of the USA/Serbia semi final game and were the victims of several subjective calls:
Jokic Foul on Durant: Serbian fans believe there should not have been an additional possession awarded to Team USA. Booker hit a 3 on the additional possession for a 6 point swing.
Lebron travelled on his layup: Serbian fans claim Lebron travelled on the layup to put Team USA by 3. I disagree with this.
Steph consistently carried: Serbian fans are claiming that Steph would carry on his crossovers and hesitations and claim that’s what caused him to get separation in the semi finals and gold medal game which lead to his 60 points.
I personally believe a lot of this is a coping mechanism, but fans of both teams what are your thoughts?
Serbians are deeply nationalist and don’t like the US very much. The emotions involved in such a near win were probably pretty tough for some of the fans.
I think most rational Serbs understand that going 0-10 from 3 in the 4th was why they lost. They were allowed to play extremely physical in the 1st half and eventually ran out of gas. It happens.
I don’t think robbed is the correct word but it’s a fact that USA got the better whistle of the two overall, so it must be kind of hard to accept.
One or two different calls and they are on the finals instead.
But it is what it is.
There hasn’t been a close game in history where the fans of the losing side didn’t say the refs robbed them. It’s just what fans do.
If you search for it you’ll find it. Could be game 11 of the NBA season and you can just go on Twitter or the teams subreddit and you’ll find it. Especially in basketball which is so hard to referee without any mistakes or 50/50 calls.
No- not really. Sure, you can find nonsense on social media and an article or two (about as much as you expect after any close game), but most folks are bummed our we were so close and couldn’t pull it off.
as soon as somebody write anything in favour to Serbia gets downvoted
Your question needs to be broken down in two.
Do Serbian fans truly believe they were robbed of a Gold Medal?
No, not really. A lot of it is a coping mechanism and we also do believe some important calls went your way.
But that’s basketball and in the end of the day, you won fair and square.Do we believe we were the true winners of USA/Serbia semi-final game?
Yes, we do. Let me me explain.
American basketballs/ex-players and generally public tend to be quite arrogant when it comes to US national basketball team. You sent the best team ever formed in history of basketball and you expected to route everyone by 30+ points difference.
And then we outplayed you in the semi-final game. Yes, you won, but you were outplayed by 12 guys most of you never heard of (obviously excluding Jokic, Bogdanovic and maybe Micic).
No one’s afraid of you anymore and now many teams believe then can beat you.
Your question needs to be broken down in two.
Do Serbian fans truly believe they were robbed of a Gold Medal?
No, not really. A lot of it is a coping mechanism and we also do believe some important calls went your way.
But that’s basketball and in the end of the day, you won fair and square.Do we believe we were the true winners of USA/Serbia semi-final game?
Yes, we do. Let me me explain.
American basketball players/ex-players and generally public tend to be quite arrogant when it comes to US national basketball team. You sent the best team ever formed in history of basketball and you expected to route everyone by 30+ points difference.
And then we outplayed you in the semi-final game. Yes, you won, but you were outplayed by 12 guys most of you never heard of (obviously excluding Jokic, Bogdanovic and maybe Micic).
No one’s afraid of you anymore and now many teams believe then can beat you.
No one of any value would or has ever claimed that.
Refereeing is pretty much an act of god. People don’t realize how hard it is to make split-second decisions in real-time. Referees do a good job most of the time. They might miss some calls here and there, but Serbia went cold from 3.
The reason they lost was because USA bet that they would go cold from 3 and started fronting Jokic with Lebron in the post with defenders shading him if he got within 10 feet of the rim. The shooters just missed.
They laid an egg and then it was a referee’s fault. Typical for a balkan country.
have you never heard of serbian nationalism?
They’re still pissed off that NATO robbed them of a genocide.
the biggest steal of the olympics was actually france against japan
Wild that the eventual silver medalists shouldn’t have even made the quarterfinals
there were some weird calls and no calls, but it was a tight game… traveling is sooooooo ok in NBA, and there is a video of 3 traveling errors (or was it 2) and one step on a like by KD in past quarter, was it a rob, i just think judges were incompetent baboons, i mean judge from PANAMA such a basketball nation, and a judge from Bosnia thats only better than Croatia. Imagine we got judges from North Korea and Afganistan… thats it …
Their best argument would be the three quick whistles to start the fourth. However they didn’t do much to stop team USA either and Kerr took it easy on them in the second and third with the strange lineups.
I think they’ve moved on
I’m a Croatian and I say they were robbed. All the reasons you numbered, well, deny them if you can?
And here my friends is a typical balkan boy blaming a referee afer his team laid an egg!
I too would be pissed if Team USA gave up a 15 point lead and lost in the last couple of minutes.