'Basketball has changed': Bogdan Bogdanovic nonchalantly breaks FIBA World Cup 3-pt record whilst schooling Dillon Brooks, Canada
Bogdan Bogdanovic continued his stellar FIBA Basketball World Cup stint on Friday night, when he led Serbia to a stunning 95-86 win against Canada. This came in a semifinal battle at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Atlanta Hawks super sub scored 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting in the victory against Canada. However, his near-perfect shooting from long range is now the subject of some FIBA World Cup history.
Bogdanovic went 3-of-4 from 22 feet out, and it was enough for him to set a modern-day tournament record.
Now with 69 career threes in the FIBA World Cup since his debut in 2014, Bogdan Bogdanovic now holds the record for the most triples made in the tournament in the last 30 years.
For him, however, it is a testament that the game of basketball has evolved, now putting more premium on outside shooting.
Speaking to reporters after the semifinal win, Bogdanovic said:
"Basketball has changed. There's a lot more threes. We are also playing faster."
However, he also said that he never envisioned going for the FIBA World Cup record and is just focusing on helping Serbia win the tournament:
"I didn't come every year to say, 'I'm gonna break this record,' but I'm happy that I achieved that too."
Bogdan Bogdanovic says the game vs. Canada was Serbia's best performance of FIBA World Cup
It was not just Bogdan Bogdanovic who performed well against Canada. Nikola Milutinov and Ognjen Dobric each added 16 points for Serbia, with Milutinov going 6-for-6 from the field.
Nikola Jovic, the other NBA player in Team Serbia, was also perfect from the field with a 4-of-4 clip for eight points.
Serbia went 36-of-58 from the field in the game, enough for Bogdanovic to say that his team's performance on Friday night was one for the ages:
"If we thought that we had the best game against Lithuania, tonight was our best game so far in the tournament."
For comparison, Serbia went 33-for-60 from the field in the quarterfinals against Lithuania.
Can Bogdan Bogdanovic and Serbia sustain their brilliance on Sunday night in the World Cup final? Time will tell.