Nenad Krstic Suspended Three Games by FIBA for Chair Toss

Despite fears Thunder center Nenad Krstic might miss the entirety of Serbia's run in the 2010 FIBA World Championship following a rollicking brawl in a warmup against Greece, the big man will miss only the first three games of the tournament, FIBA announced Thursday. Serbian guard Milos Teodosic, who helped spark the fight, earned a two-game suspension. Greek big men Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis will each be ruled out of two games, as well.

FanHouse's Chris Tomasson is in Turkey for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.

Krstic threw a chair at Schortsanitis as the on-court brawl wound down at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Athens last week. The chair instead hit Greek center Ioannis Bourousis in the head and neck, drawing blood. Krstic expressed anxiety FIBA might knock him out of the tournament completely earlier this week, but previous fight-related sanctions by FIBA suggested a two- or three-game suspension.

Of course, teams are only guaranteed five games in the tournament's group stage. But Serbia remains likely to earn a berth to the knock-out stage, so Krstic will miss no more than half his team's tournament run.

Luckily for Serbia, the team's first three games come against Group A's least fearsome teams: Angola, Germany and Jordan. Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic could beat Jordan right now.

The Greeks should also be fine, with games against China and Puerto Rico starting off Group C play. This assumes Bourousis, the beastly center who missed the warmup schedule for Greece, is ready from the start. Schortsanitis missed Greece's warmup against Team USA on Wednesday due to injury, and it's unclear whether he'll be able to play in Turkey at all.

There's no way Greece and Serbia can meet before the quarterfinals of the World Championship.