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Watch Puerto Rico Vs. Serbia Basketball Live Online: Start Time, Streaming Video Link For FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament Final

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 14:40 PST, Jul 8, 2016

Fans can watch the Puerto Rico vs. Serbia basketball game live online and see which team can win the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgrade and punch their ticket to the Rio Olympics.

The teams will meet on Saturday for the championship game, which starts at 3 p.m. ET. The game will be shown on ESPN3 and is also available on live streaming video for those wanting to watch online (a link to the video can be found below).

Puerto Rico played their way into Saturday’s final thanks to a big upset over Latvia in a thrilling finish on Friday. With the game tied and close to one minute remaining, NBA player Renaldo Balkman scored a put-back basket to take the lead and Carlos Arroyo nailed a three-pointer to give Puerto Rico a five-point lead that they would never relinquish.

As FIBA.com noted, Puerto Rico had a great defensive effort, especially on the perimeter where they held Latvia to just 3-of-26 shooting from behind the three-point arc.

Fans who watch the Puerto Rico vs. Serbia basketball game live online will see a Serbian team that cruised to the final with a big win over Czech Republic. The host Serbian team withstood a third-quarter run from the Czech team that cut a 17-point lead to just 9 points, with Milos Teodosic nailing a three-pointer to put Serbia on an 8-2 run.

The host Serbian team ended up winning 96-72 to set up the final against Puerto Rico.

As FIBA noted, Serbia had a great team approach to offense against the Czech Republic.

“Serbia had already dished out a collective 27 assists by the end of the third quarter as they executed to perfection and scored on back-door-cuts again and again,” the report noted. “The hosts scored from inside the paint 36 of their 48 points on two-point shots.”

Fans who watch the Puerto Rico vs. Serbia basketball game live online will see if the teams can match the thrilling contest from the first time they met this tournament. In the group round, Serbia outlasted Puerto Rico to win 87-81 in a game that featured 10 lead changes.

The game will have some interest beyond Puerto Rico and Serbia. There’s a big pocket of fans watching in Nebraska, cheering on former Huskers player Jorge Brian Diaz, who has been solid in the middle for Puerto Rico throughout the tournament.

The six-foot-11 center, who was a big shot blocker at Nebraska, had 10 points in Friday’s win over Latvia and is averaging 6.7 points and 3.7 rebounds coming off the bench this tournament.

There will also be eyes on a few of the NBA players featured in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, including Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic. Fans of the Phoenix Suns had been following Bogdan closely, as their former first-round pick had yet to make it to the United States.

Bogdanovic announced last month that he would not be joining the Suns, instead staying with his team in Turkey next season, prompting the Suns to trade his rights to the Kings.

As Fansided noted, Bogdanovic has been playing well in the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, giving hope to NBA fans when he finally does make his debut.

“Bogdanovic played 26 minutes for Serbia, scoring 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting in the host nation’s 87-81 win over Puerto Rico. Bogdanovic collected seven rebounds and five assists also.

“This bodes well for Bogdanovic when he does come into the NBA; he is an incredibly gifted all-around athlete who will shine from day one.”

Fans who want to watch the Puerto Rico vs. Serbia basketball game live online can click here for streaming video from ESPN.

[Image via Instagram/FIBA]

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