Serbia vs. Greece prediction & game preview - August 8th, 2023 | FIBA World Cup 2023 Tuneup Games
The 2023 FIBA World Cup exhibition games will continue with Serbia matching up against Greece on August 8, 2023. This will be a home game for Greece, held in the Olympic Athletic Center of Athens "Spiros Louis" in Athens, Greece.
This will be Serbia's first game and they will likely look to start out on a positive note with a win against Greece. That said, Greece has played two games thus far and won both, which were against Slovenia (first game 98-91, second 88-77).
These wins are especially impressive for Greece given that they are missing their superstar, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Antetokounmpo had a procedure done on his knee earlier this summer and is recovering. Meanwhile, Slovenia featured NBA superstar Luka Doncic, which wasn't enough to overcome Greece.
As for Greece vs. Serbia, there have been 13 official head-to-head matches between the two. Serbia has the advantage in these with eight victories.
That said, Serbia will be missing their superstar Nikola Jokic, who is coming off an NBA championship and was named the Finals MVP. Jokic cited fatigue from the championship run as the reason for missing the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
Greece vs. Serbia: Prediction
In the upcoming matchup, both teams are strong but will not feature their best players from the NBA. Both Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo will not be a part of the game.
It will likely take Serbia a game or two to catch up to the pace and Greece will look to take advantage of this. More so, Greece was able to fend off the Donic-led Slovenia, thus it would be fair to give Greece an edge in the upcoming game.
Greece's offense has been flowing in their previous two games and they have looked like a cohesive team. Players like Michalis Lountzis and Thomas Walkup could look to have a big game against Serbia, who although rested might be somewhat rusty.
Serbia vs Greece: Odds
The odds for this matchup are -118 in Greece's favor.
With a confident Greece team and a rested Serbia team, the game totals will likely be high and as such have been set at 158.5 points.