Serbia cruised through its first four games of pool play in EuroBasket, but they were shockingly upended, 95-90, by Turkey. It was an outstanding battle that went back and forth all the way to the last minute, but the most notable takeaway from this game was that Alperen Sengun outduelled Nikola Jokic.
Both teams came into this matchup with 4-0 records, but now with the upset win, Turkey wins the group and secures the number one seed in the knockout round where they’ll play Sweden on Saturday.
By losing, Jokic and Serbia got the two seed and will now have a much tougher matchup in the round of 16, against Finland, and the scorching hot Lauri Markkanen. The path to a European Championship has always been the goal for Serbia, but it looked a lot tougher after losing their captain, Bogdan Bogdanovic, to a hamstring injury.
It looks even tougher now after this loss. To make matters even worse, Aleksa Avramovic, who has been having a great tournament, went down with an injury in the first half and did not return.
Sengun and Rockets going to be a thorn in Nuggets’ side
Most of the focus this offseason in Denver has been on cathing up to the Thunder, but this game showed that they can’t sleep on the Rockets. Houston rode a great defense to the number two seed in the West last season, then added Kevin Durant to jumpstart the offense.
If the 23-year-old All-Star Sengun is going to battle like this against Jokic, the Rockets are going to pose a very serious threat to the Nuggets. Seeding may be more important than ever this season, because as much as Denver may have improved this offseason, if they have to go through the Rockets and Thunder, that’s going to be a tall task.
And that’s not even to mention the Timberwolves, Lakers, Clippers, and a handful of other teams that should be threats to contend in the West this season. But outside of OKC and Denver, none are getting more love than the Rockets, and rightfully so.
We saw Sengun get the best of Jokic, finishing with 28 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists, including a number of clutch buckets and free throws to ice the win. Jokic was great, as always, but he couldn’t keep pace with Alpie, going for just 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in the loss, including not being able to get the ball on one of the biggest possessions of the game.
🇹🇷 Alperen Sengun: 28 PTS 13 REB 8 AST
— FIBA EuroBasket (@EuroBasket) September 3, 2025
🇷🇸 Nikola Jokic: 22 PTS 9 REB 4 AST 3 STL
A duel for the ages in one of the best #EuroBasket games of all-time! pic.twitter.com/reO1uqA6dy
We’d love to see this instant classic again and see if Jokic can get his revenge, but these teams won’t face off unless it’s in the Finals or Third Place Game. That very well may happen, and we’d never rule out Jokic coming through in the end.
But as it stands, Sengun, AKA Baby Jokic, proved to the world that he can hang with Jokic and sent a message to the NBA that the Rockets are coming this year.