Nuggets analyst humiliates Serbia coach’s outdated tactics after Nikola Jokic & Co. shockingly dumped out of EuroBasket

Serbia was seen as the favorite to win EuroBasket 2025 but was shockingly eliminated by Finland in the Round of 16 on Saturday. Following the loss, Nuggets analyst Eric Sedum humiliated Serbia’s coach Svetislav Pesic for using outdated tactics.

During the “DNVR Sports” podcast, Sedum criticized Pesic, explaining he had lost faith in the coach as Serbia faced another shock exit from the tournament.

“I’m so out on coach Pesic,” Sedum said. “This has to be the last time I ever see him coach Serbia. I really thought he was asleep at the wheel. I didn’t see any adjustments.”

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Continuing to criticize the veteran coach, Sedum argued that Finland ran the same plays repeatedly, to which Pesic made no adjustments, and that he failed to make the right substitutions during the game.

"The Finnish squad was able to do the same thing the entire time; they made no adjustments at all," Sedum said. "He brought guys in the last minute of the game. I don't know what he was doing. Bro, you have other guys.

"Like Marko Guduric is not getting it done. Where's Marinkovic? Look for something else. Why does Avramovic only play 17 minutes when Stefan Jovic is out there just sucking wind."

Despite having four NBA players on their roster, Serbia fell 92-86 to Lauri Markkanen’s Finland in a shocking upset. The Serbs got off to a slow start and trailed by four at the end of the first quarter. They bounced back with a strong 24-16 showing in the second, but it turned out to be their only dominant stretch of the game.

Finland took control in the third and fourth quarters to seal the historic win. With the victory, they advance to face the winner of France vs. Georgia in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.

Svetislav Pesic offers key reasons behind Serbia's loss against Finland despite Nikola Jokic's 33-point performance

Serbia was knocked out of the 2025 EuroBasket in the Round of 16 by Finland on Saturday. The result marked the tournament’s biggest upset so far, coming right after reigning champion Spain’s shock exit in the group stage.

Despite Nikola Jokic's 33-point performance, Serbia was unable to get past Finland as coach Svetislav Pesic expressed a key reason behind the defeat after the game.

"We can look for excuses, but the reality is that you need to be in better physical shape at a tournament like this," Pesic said. "We weren't. Several players played through injuries. We also had a virus in the team, an illness."

Although claiming his team was suffering from the flu, Finland was the better team on the night and deserved to go through to the quarter finals.

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About the author

Arian Kashyap

Arian Kashyap is a basketball journalist at Sportskeeda with over two years of experience at Essentially Sports and Spice Bite and a Bachelor's in Physical Education and Sports Sciences.

Arian's favorite team is the Miami Heat and it’s mainly down to Dwyane Wade being his favorite player of all time. Arian loved how explosive Wade was as a player and he had all the attributes, whether that be shooting, defending or passing. Arian really liked how he won titles both with and without a dynasty behind him.

Arian has also worked with Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools and was the manager for a Delhi-based women’s team called Garwhal Untied. Garwhal won the Delhi league and were runners-up during his tenure.

Arian has judged essay writing competitions for the Commonwealth Students Welfare Group of India in 2023 and was a part of the U-14 team for the Bhaichung Bhutia Football Schools academy that qualified for the AIFF Round in 2023.

When not working or watching sports, Arian likes riding his motorcycle and reading.

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