What happened overnight in Serbia's locker room, and how forsaken losers defeated America? (VIDEO)

America has finally fallen too! Serbia's basketball players have managed to overcome frustration after dropping out of the medals race at the FIBA Basketball World Cup, and defeat the US team for the first time since 2002.

It's a pity that the match was played merely for prestige, a little bit entertaining in character - but it's certainly not easy to beat a team like this after an emotional crash and great expectations.

Recommended

After suffering defeats at the hands of Spain and Argentina, it seemed as if the whole world had collapsed for our basketball players, they were depressed, because previously they believed and knew they could reach the final, and win the gold medal.

After the defeats, they expected to play against France in the battle for the 5th place - who were instead the first to defeat the Americans since 2006, and reach the semifinals.

Foto: fiba.basketball

In doing so, they closed our door to direct qualification to the Tokyo Olympics, and sent us to play against the United States. It was a trigger for our boys. They had a day and a half off, no training on the court, enough time to think everything over by themselves, but also to think together and reconnect into a strong group.

"We didn't train, we sat and talked and agreed to finish this championship the right way. The locker room deal has been honored, which was to fight to the very end," Lucic said after the game.

Watch the video taken with the ultra-wide angle camera on Motorola One Action.

If by chance we played against France, who knows what would've happened, because again the pressure would have been great, as would the stakes of going to the Olympics. This way, the key thing was that our boys realized that they had nothing more to lose and that they could gain a lot.

They played against a rival that represented the strongest basketball power in the world, no matter what team they had picked. It was an opportunity to show how much they were really worth. To bring down that "Dream Team" one time.

The burden of favorites had been shifted onto the US team, and besides, it was important for our players, and a matter of great prestige to beat NBA players, especially to those who play in that league like Bogdanovic, Jokic, Bjelica, Marjanovic.

Foto: fiba.basketball

They had a day and a half to clear their heads and agree what to do and how to move forward, and that was good. They realized that if the the French managed to beat the US, so could Serbia - which defeated the French in the preparatory period ahead of the championship.

The confidence came back, they knew they could beat these guys, they knew them from the NBA and that they could play with them. On the other hand, they knew this could not make the defeat by Argentina right - but that they could soften it and show that they are a team after all.

Watch the video taken with the ultra-wide angle camera on Motorola One Action.

In order to overcome all vanities and egos and to unite, to believe in themselves again, because victory over Americans brings glory to them all.

On the other hand, the key thing was that they had two days of rest and sleep, while the Americans had less than 20 hours to recover.

The motivation was at a maximum level, the pressure eased, and it was immediately evident that the team did not find it so hard to play. The 32-7 start was the worst quarter in America's basketball history, and perhaps the best in Serbian history. The match started the right way and it was already evident that there weren't any constraints and pressure any longer, and that everyone was relaxed.

Another interesting detail was during the sounding of the anthem of Serbia before the game. Previously, players would embrace each other, but now they stood behind each other, putting their left hand on the teammate in front of them.

The unity of the group was evident there, and that they had overcame all the problems, as head coach Sasa Djordjevic said.

"We need to stand together when we lose and when we win. We played for honor and to honor the competition. The goal was to defend against their transition as a team, and well done to the boys," said Djordjevic.

The general impression is that our players were left without pressure and that this relaxed them and brought back that winning mode. That's why they looked so convincing at the start and scored 94 points against the US.

Regret remains that they didn't have enough mental preparation to confront and demonstrate the quality that they have in the match against Argentina.

(Telegraf's special reporter from the Basketball World Cup, Dragutin Stojmenovic)