Serbia, Greece Brawl in Pre-Worlds 'Friendly' in Athens

Nary a summer goes by without two national basketball teams smacking the snot out of each other during a FIBA game. Last summer, we were fed two notable melees, Italy vs. Canada and the inordinately violent Mexico vs. Uruguay. With the 2010 FIBA World Championship right around the corner, regional rivals Serbia and Greece gave us the first major brawl of the international season.

Meeting in Athens for a warm-up tournament, Serb/Thunder center Nenad Krstic grabbed Greek center Antonis Fotsis by the throat as Fotsis exchanged heated words with Serb guard Milos Teodosic after a hard foul. Fists began to fly, men were tackled, violence erupted.

As things escalated, a retreating but yapping Krstic threw a chair toward a chasing Sofo Schortsanitis, who had earlier exchanged blows with Krstic in close quarters. The chair missed Sofo (also known as Greek Shaq), and hit Greece's other imposing big man, Ioannis Bourossis, recovering from injury and wearing street clothes, in the head, producing blood.

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Here's the gory footage:

Krstic will almost assuredly see sanctions from FIBA. Italy's Stefano Mancinelli was suspended two games by FIBA for his role instigating last summer's brawl with Canada. (This would've mattered if the Italian team mattered.) Three players and a coach were suspended after the Mexico-Uruguay fight.

Krstic will likely receive two games off; the ruling ought to come in advance of the tip-off of the World Championship in Aug. 28. A two-game suspension would rule Krstic, Serbia's starting center, out of games against Angola and Germany, teams the Serbs should beat with or without Nenad.

I wouldn't bet on any Greeks receiving a suspension unless other Serbs also draw punishment. Schortsanitis threw some haymakers, and Fotsis managed to spit on Teodosic and later tackle another peace-making Serb. But Krstic managed to instigate the fight, re-light it as it wanted and toss a chair. A real trifecta.