Near perfect Vucevic shines in Montenegro win over Mexico

He missed the FIBA EuroBasket 2022, and was eager to get back into his favorite jersey. It showed, as Nikola Vucevic’s 27-point haul powered Montenegro towards a comfortable 91-71 win over Mexico.

The game opened up proceedings in the Mall of Asia Arena, in front of 6,668 fans. They tried to help Mexico get back into the game, creating a lot of noise in the stands, but then gave Vucevic and Montenegro their well deserved ovations.

Turning point: With Vucevic’s dominance inside the arc and two made triples outside of the arc, Montenegro opened up a nine point lead at the break. Once he got help from Petar Popovic, who made back-to-back three-pointers in the third quarter, Montenegro raced away to a 16-point lead.

Mexico tried everything, but Montenegro stayed calm, using their experience to keep their rivals at bay. There was no drama in the end and a rock-solid fourth quarter by Bosko Radovic’s men was enough to protect the lead.

TCL Player of the Game: Nikola Vucevic loves big stages, and the crowd in Manila were full of “oohs” and “ahhs” each time he scored. And he did it in variety of ways: rolls and dunks, left block post ups, right block post ups, spot up threes, trailing threes in transition – it was a prototype Vucevic game.

He finished with 27 points on 11-of-15 shooting, with 8 rebounds, Montenegro were +26 with him on the floor, and he had a couple of big blocks to kill all hopes of a Mexican comeback. Honorable mention goes to Kendrick Perry’s 16 points and 7 assists.

Stats don’t lie: Before the event, we previewed this game as the battle of styles, of one team shooting a lot, and the other making shots inside the arc. That’s exactly what happened, but in reversed roles. Montenegro were the ones hitting threes, making 14-of-31, compared to Mexico’s 6-of-19 shooting from the same distance.

Bottom line: With Lithuania marked as the group favorites, and Egypt taking the role of the underdog, this could be the win that gets Montenegro over the line, towards the Second Round.

Mexico will have to search for a win or two over Lithuania and Egypt to have a chance of escaping the group. Pako Cruz led them on the day with 16 points and 6 assists.