No Nikola Jokic, no problem as Serbia silences China in 42-point romp in FIBA World Cup

Serbia hardly felt the absence of its top big man and reigning NBA Finals MVP Nikola Jokic as it dealt Asian powerhouse China a 105-63 beating to open its campaign at the 2023 FIBA World Cup campaign on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Serbia, which is ranked No. 6 in the world, is now tied with Puerto Rico with similar 1-0 win-loss cards in Group B while China and South Sudan hold 0-1 slates.

Heroes were plenty for the Serbians, with the Atlanta Hawks' Bogdan Bogdanovic dropping an all-around performance of 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block while Vanja Marinkovic chipped in 14 markers as well and two boards.

Dusan Ristic and Nikola Milutinov chimed in with 13 and 11 points apiece.

Bogdanovic also showed his might on defense, putting the stop to naturalized NBA player Kyle Anderson, also known as Li Kaier, who finished the game with a scoreless outing on 0-of-9 shooting from the field.

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China was led by Zhao Rui, who scored 17 points for the Asian squad.

Serbia will next take on Puerto Rico on Monday as China takes on South Sudan early in the day.

The scores:

Serbia 105 - Bogdanovic 14, Marinkovic 14, Ristic 13, Milutinov 11, Avramovic 10, N. Jovic 9, Petrusev 8, Davidovac 7, Guduric 7, Dobric 6, S. Jovic 5, Simanic 1.

China 63 - Zhao 17, Zhou Q. 12, Zhang 9, Zhou P. 9, Wang 5, Hu J. 4, Cui 3, Fu 2, Zhao J. 2, Hu M. 0, Li 0, Zhu 0.

Quarters: 25-14, 55-34, 77-47, 105-63.

—JMB, GMA Integrated News