Spain World Cup win, US woes blow Olympic basketball wide open

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics basketball suddenly looks wide open after reigning champions the United States suffered their worst World Cup, Spain triumphed and Argentina surprised.

World Cup bronze medallists France, and Australia, who were edged out of the medals but pushed eventual winners Spain all the way in the semi-finals, will also be in contention.


And not forgetting Serbia, who along with Gregg Popovich’s young Team USA were the favourites in China but were also surprise victims in the quarter-finals.

The Tokyo Games are just over 10 months away and after some downtime following their exertions at the World Cup, teams will begin training their sights on next summer.

“It’s exactly what I knew it to be because I’ve been involved with it before and in this day and age basketball in other countries is not a secret,” Popovich said after his team’s disappointing seventh-placed finish.

“So it’s not like there’s an epiphany or revelation to be made.


“There are wonderful teams and wonderful coaches all over the world so there’s no surprise in any of that.”

If the United States can convince the likes of double gold medallist LeBron James to play in Tokyo, they will be favourites to make it four Olympic titles in a row.

But it remains to be seen whether the flak flying Team USA’s way after the China debacle scares the A-listers away or stings them into action.

‘Spain not the most talented’

Spain’s World Cup triumph, sealed with a comprehensive 95-75 victory over surprise finalists Argentina on Sunday in Beijing, was built on defence and teamwork honed from playing together down the years.

They also had Ricky Rubio, the Phoenix Suns point guard who was named tournament MVP, and the experience and international knowhow of Marc Gasol.


Rubio described the Spain team as “a family”.

In contrast, the US roster was one of the youngest in China and was thrown together at the last minute. The players were still getting to know each other as the tournament began.

“We were not the tallest or most talented, or in the odds when the tournament started, but we worked hard,” said Spain’s coach Sergio Scariolo, an assistant at NBA champions the Toronto Raptors.

“They didn’t lose faith in themselves, and basketball rewarded them.”

Disappointment fires Australia

Australia brought the Americans’ run of 78 consecutive wins in major competitions and exhibition games to an end just before the World Cup, a forewarning of what was to come.

The Boomers led Spain for much of their thrilling semi-final, only to lose in double overtime. They similarly ran out of gas in their bronze-medal match against France.

It left Australia still searching for a medal in the worlds or Olympics — a barren run that they hope they can finally snap next summer.

Mitch Creek, their forward, hopes that the Boomers will have all their players for Tokyo — they were missing Philadelphia 76ers Jonah Bolden and Ben Simmons in China.

“This team is going to be a very powerful team when it comes to the Olympic Games,” he warned.

The Australians are still simmering from their one-point defeat to Spain in the bronze-medal match at Rio 2016.


“We haven’t forgotten about the previous Olympics, the fourth place there,” he said.

“And we’re certainly not going to forget about this World Cup campaign.

“So there’s a lot we can take out of this and build upon.”

source: sports.inquirer.net

Gasol gets historic double, Spain dominates Argentina for Fiba World Cup gold

BEIJING — Spain has captured its second World Cup championship, defeating Argentina 95-75 on Sunday to give Marc Gasol a rare double-title year.

Tournament MVP Ricky Rubio scored 20 points and Sergio Llull added 15 for Spain (8-0), the ninth team to make it through a World Cup or world championship unbeaten. Gasol scored 14 for the winners, who never trailed.

For Gasol, it was historic.

The Toronto Raptors center becomes the second player to win an NBA title and a FIBA world gold medal in the same year, joining Lamar Odom — who did it for the Los Angeles Lakers and USA Basketball in 2010.

Gasol is also the 19th to win either an NBA or WNBA crown along with a gold medal, either of the Olympic or World Cup variety, in the same year. And he’s the first to accomplish that feat while representing a nation other than the U.S.

When Spain won its first title in 2006, it was Pau Gasol — Marc’s older brother — leading the way. This time, it was the not-so-little brother who led his nation to gold, hoisting the World Cup trophy three months after getting his hands on the NBA’s Larry O’Brien Trophy for the first time.


Gabriel Deck scored 24 points for Argentina (8-1), which got off to a slow start and played uphill the rest of the way. Luis Scola was held to eight points, shooting 1 for 10 from the floor.

Spain led 43-31 at the half, riding the strength of two big runs.

Spain ran out to a quick 14-2 lead, only to have Argentina answer with an 11-0 spurt. But when that ended, Spain came back with a 17-1 run and took what was then its biggest lead at 31-14.

Scola, even at 39 years old still Argentina’s best player throughout the tournament, didn’t get on the scoresheet until he made a pair of free throws with 2:57 left in the third. But they only cut the Spain lead to 19, and by then the Argentinian fans — who stood in the stands a few rows from their team’s bench, singing and chanting for much of the game — were relatively quiet.

They probably had a good idea what was coming.


There was one last gasp from Argentina, an 11-4 run to open the fourth quarter and cut Spain’s lead to 12 with 6:30 left. But Llull’s three-point play on the next Spain possession pushed the lead back to 15.

TIP-INS

Argentina: This was the third FIBA World Cup medal for Argentina, making it the fifth nation with that many after the United States (12), Yugoslavia (10), the Soviet Union (eight) and Brazil (six). Another four nations have two medals, including Spain. … Argentina fell to 2-8 all-time against Spain in World Cup or Olympic competition.

Spain: It was the fourth consecutive FIBA title game to be decided by double digits. … It was also a double-title year for Spain coach Sergio Scariolo; he’s an assistant on Nick Nurse’s staff in Toronto. … Everything went Spain’s way early — even air balls. Rudy Fernandez took a corner 3 that sailed long by about two feet, landing in the hands of Juancho Hernangomez. He laid in the miss to start a three-point play, part of Spain’s 14-2 game-opening run.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM

Joining Rubio on the all-tournament team were Gasol, Scola, France’s Evan Fournier and Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic.

DIGNITARIES

Among the big names in attendance on the final day of the World Cup: Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, FIBA ambassador and five-time NBA champion Kobe Bryant, and Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili — both four-time NBA champions with San Antonio.

5 WITH 2

Spain is the fifth nation to win the World Cup (or its predecessor, the world championship) at least twice. The U.S. and Yugoslavia are five-time champions, the Soviet Union won three titles and Brazil has won two.


UP NEXT

Argentina: Qualified for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Spain: Qualified for 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Emboldened Australia closes on another first at Fiba World Cup

A historic win over the United States, then three victories in a row at the World Cup in China to top the “Group of Death” — Australian basketball is setting new landmarks for itself.

Now the Boomers are eyeing another first, having never gone beyond the quarter-finals in 11 previous World Cup appearances.


“We speak about it a lot: in international basketball, you need the size, you need the beef, there’s big men playing this game,” said coach Andrej Lemanis after his team beat European heavyweights Lithuania 87-82 in a gritty encounter in Dongguan.

The hard-earned victory on Thursday — the game was tied with just under two minutes left — made it three wins in a row to start their World Cup, a first for the Boomers.

Australia not only survived the “Group of Death” also including Canada and Senegal, but they also topped it.

Putting the gloss on the evening, defeat for neighbors New Zealand against a Giannis Antetokounmpo-inspired Greece propelled Australia into the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as the best team in Oceania.


Next, San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills and the rest of the Boomers play surprise-package the Dominican Republic on Saturday in the second round.

They will be favorites to triumph over the Dominicans, who have the joint-shortest roster at the 32-team World Cup and were well-beaten 90-56 by France on Thursday.

On Monday, with the quarter-finals in sight, Australia will face their toughest task yet in the form of France, who finished third at the 2014 World Cup.

– Going for gold –

Australia, the Asian champions and 2016 Rio Olympic semi-finalists, have been building up to this.

They are missing a couple of big players in Philadelphia 76er Jonah Bolden and his teammate Ben Simmons.

But their roster still has a slew of NBA standouts and in the lead-up to the competition they ended the USA’s run of 78 consecutive wins in major competitions and exhibition games.

The 98-94 victory in Melbourne was the Boomers’ first victory against the world and Olympic champions.

But rather than being cowed by increasing expectations, the likes of Mills, the Utah Jazz’s Joe Ingles and seasoned veteran Andrew Bogut have flourished.

Phoenix Suns center Aron Baynes roared to the fore against Lithuania with 21 points, 13 rebounds, and two assists.

“Phenomenal, right?” Lemanis purred.

Veteran United States coach Gregg Popovich labeled Australia “top contenders” in China in the build-up.

Mills called it “Australia’s best-ever team”.

And in a refreshing change from coaches who trot out the usual banalities about “one game at a time”, Lemanis refuses to talk down his team.

“Our goal — I think like every team here — is to win the gold,” he said after the Lithuania victory.

“That’s the goal that we set ourselves and as a group we have a great belief that that’s something we can achieve.

“Our goal, absolutely, is to win the gold medal,” Lemanis repeated for emphasis.

source: sports.inquirer.net