Cedi Osman is putting on a show for fans all around the world at the 2017 Eurobasket competition. Osman led his Turkey team into a battle against Serbia on Monday, but came up short falling 80-74. Osman finished with 15 points, four rebounds, five assists, and two blocks, but didn’t get going until the second half.
For Turkey, Melih Mahmutoglu scored 19 points, former Cavalier Semi Erden added 13 points and five rebounds, while new 76ers’ addition Furkan Korkmaz added 11 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic scored all 17 of his points in the second half en route to the win, and Stefan Jovic added 15 points, four rebounds, nine assists, as well as two steals.
Osman only had four points with two rebounds and two assists in the first half, struggling mightily from the field at just 1-5 shooting. He finished the game shooting 4-12 from the field, including 3-9 from beyond the three-point arc. After getting to the free throw line 15 times in their Eurobasket opener, Osman settled for long jumpshots as opposed to taking it to the rim. Of course, it isn’t easy to try and score around Serbia’s towering big men, but for a player as important to his team as Osman is, he’s got to be more aggressive going to the basket moving forward.
Osman did have two incredible chasedown blocks that looked eerily similar to those of LeBron James’ blocks.
The 22-year old future Cavalier is now shooting just 35.1 percent from the field (13-37 FG) in the tournament, including 36.8 percent from beyond the arc (7-19).
Here are the full highlights from Turkey’s game against Serbia.
Next, Turkey will take on Belgium tomorrow afternoon at 2PM EST in Turkey’s second-to-last game in Eurobasket Group play.