MANILA, Philippines – A Nikola Jokic-less Serbia kicked off its FIBA World Cup campaign with a complete obliteration of China, 105-63, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Saturday night.
China started the game hot, scoring six unanswered points, after a four-point play by Zhang Zhenlin.
Serbia stormed back shortly, putting in a 16-5 run to take a 16-11 lead.
After Peng Zhou hit a three to cut the lead to 16-14, with four minutes remaining in the quarter, China hit a scoring drought, going scoreless for the rest of the quarter as Serbia made it 25-14 following a pair of free throws by Nikola Jovic.
Since then, Serbia never looked back as they tightened their defense and unleashed a flurry of outside shots.
The Serbians' lead eclipsed 40, 103-63, following a 3-pointer by Vanja Marinkovic with 39 seconds remaining in the game.
Zhenlin came out of the gate firing, scoring nine of China's first 11 points.
The team’s naturalized player, Kyle Anderson, surprisingly laid an egg in his debut for China.
Anderson, who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA, finished the game on 0-of-9 shooting. He had four rebounds and four assists.
He tallied the worst +- in the game with -35.
Bogdan Bogdanovic and Vanja Marinkovic led Serbia with 14 points apiece.
China was led by Rui Zhao with 17 points.