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The final two teams earned entry to the Semi-Finals today -- including a huge upset! SERBIA vs BRAZIL Serbia saved its best play for the second half and blasted a tired Brazil team 84-56 in Madrid. Teodosic put in 28 minutes of real hoops, hitting 10/10 from the free throw line,3/5 from the 3pt stripe and 2/4 from 2 for a total of 23 points and 4 assists. Big Krstic and Raduljica each scored 10 points as the bigs beat up on Brazil and helped Serbia advance to the Semi-Finals. Brazil was led in scoring by Varejao and Vieira, who scored 12 each.  FRANCE vs SPAIN
BRAVO LES BLEUS!!! France 65 Spain 52. Often in the game of basketball (and life) good things happen to those who are patient and work on their craft! Today, in Madrid, France pulled off an upset that few thought possible in front of a packed house of Spanish fans. The French team had underachieved early in the tournament but seemed to be on a mission of late.Their intensity on defense picked up, guards stepped up and made plays and some of the older bodies returned to their prime form. France took over the tempo and forced Spain into missed shots and mistakes, crushing their dream of meeting USA in the Finals. Boris Diaw led scoring for France with 15pts, 5 boards and 3 assists, and Rudy Gobert took over the paint, securing 13 rebounds and a blocked shot. I thought the final blow for Spain was a 3-pointer by Thomas Heurtel inside 1:10 remaining in the game. The basket put France up by 10 points, and Spain had no answers. Going 2 for 22, there was no catching up. When the three point shot didn't work for Spain, the inside game stopped working too. Spain was out-rebounded by 22 (50-28), and the French owned the offensive glass. Pau Gasol, once again, was great. He had 17pts, 8 boards and 3 blocked shots, but didn’t get any help from Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka or the misfiring guards. France will meet Serbia in the Semi-Finals. UPCOMING GAMES: Sept 11th: USA vs LITHUANIA Sept 12th: FRANCE vs SERBIA The Quarter-finals got underway today as Lithuania faced off against Turkey and the USA met Slovenia LITHUANIA vs TURKEY
Lithuania defeated Turkey 73-61 in a slugfest that began with Turkey controlling the first half but ended in a Lithuanian sprint after they finally wore Turkey down in the fourth quarter. With Seibutis and Pocius banging in 6 three-pointers, Lithuania expanded their lead. Lithuania was 10/19 from the three at 52% and 81% from the free throw line. Their bench outscored Turkey’s 28-6. Turkey is normally a strong three point-shooting team but today they could only manage 3/18 (17%). The team shot 70% from the free throw line. Gonlum (13), Arslan (12) and Asik (11) led the team in scoring. Turkey was only able to run a 7-man rotation as opposed to Lithuania’s 11-man rotation. This game was a good example of how heavy legs can kill a team’s momentum and rhythm, in addition to speed. USA vs SLOVENIA As they have done throughout this tournament, the USA played 20 minutes of lackluster, one-on-one basketball. Hardin helped to keep Slovenia in the game by taking one forced shot after another. He only had 2 points at the half. The USA’s uninspired defense also kept the game close, and Slovenia went into the break only down by 7 (49-42). What a difference a half makes! Slovenia, typically a three point shooting team, could not make a basket in the second half. Team USA also picked up their play and basically out-rebounded, out-shot, out-defended and out-hustled a completely exhausted 7-man Slovenian rotation that just ran out of gas. The final score was USA 119, Slovenia 76. Top scorers for USA included Thompson (20), Harden (14), Faried (14), Davis (13), Rose (12) and Irving (12). USA had 54 rebounds to Slovenia’s 38, and their bench outscored Slovenia’s 60-31. USA’s defense forced Slovenia into committing 25 turnovers, most of which came in the second half, and held the Dragic brothers to 13 (Goran) and 11 (Zoran) points. Both of them play at an NBA level. Team USA faces Lithuania next. This will be a different cast of characters and a different coach. Better be ready! UPCOMING GAMES: Sept 10th: Serbia vs Brazil France vs Spain Sept 11th: USA vs Lithuania Following the second day of play in the Round of 16, the Quarter-finals of 2014 FIBA is now set. There was evidence of tired legs today, but I also saw some old warriors return to form and bail their teams out! LITHUANIA vs NEW ZEALAND
Lithuania and the Tall Blacks of New Zealand battled today, as Jonas Valanciunas finished strong with 22 points and 13 rebounds to lead his team to a hard fought victory, 76-71. Corey Webster was out of sight for New Zealand with 26 points and 4 rebounds. TURKEY vs AUSTRALIA In the final minute of the game, Emir Preldzic hit back-to-back three pointers to give Turkey the win over Australia, 65-64. Baynes (15 points) and Dellavedova (13 points) led the Boomers in scoring. Australia made it tough on themselves by making only 52% of their free throws. SERBIA vs GREECE Serbia finally caught up to expectations and drilled undefeated Greece 90-72. Greece had no legs or energy, and Calathes and Printezis, their mainstays, could only manage 14 points and 12 points apiece. Serbia's bigs came to play, and Bjelica did a great job capturing 10 rebounds. BRAZIL vs ARGENTINA In the second upset of the day, Brazil blasted Argentina 85-65 to advance to the round of 8. UPCOMING GAMES Sept 9th: Lithuania vs Turkey USA vs Slovenia Sept 10th: Serbia vs Brazil France vs Spain The first set of games in 2014 FIBA's Round of 16 is complete! USA vs MEXICO
Steph Curry had 20 points in the USA’s win over Mexico, 86-63. Gustavo Ayon had 25 for Mexico, but the game was never in question and Coach K didn’t need to play any starter longer than 20 minutes. Steph's Warriors teammate Klay Thompson had 15 followed by James Harden at 12 and DeMarcus Cousins with 11. FRANCE vs CROATIA The up-and-down French finally played a solid game to defeat a good Croatian team 69-64. The game was very even in terms of both effort and statistics (ex Croatia had 37 rebounds, France had 36). Bogdanovic led Croatia with 27, followed by Tomic with 17. The French team was led by Batum with 14, Fournier with 13, Gelabale with 11 and Huertel with 10. This was a nice team effort by the French! For the first time in the tournament, they took care of the little things that help you pull out a win in a close game. SLOVENIA vs DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Slovenia 71, Dominican Republic 61. Slovenia held the lead for 26 minutes of the game, and the Dragic brothers combined for 30 of their team’s points (Goran 12, Zoran 18). Slovenia’s bench scored 28 points to DR’s 18. Big Slokar did a great job on defensive boards. Feldeine and Martinez led DR in scoring with 18 and 12, respectively. SPAIN vs SENEGAL Pao Gasol led Spain to an 89-56 win over Senegal with 17 points. His brother Marc and Serge Ibaka did the dirty work on the boards, with 6 rebounds a piece. Marc had 9 points and Ibaka had 11. Rubio and Calderon were fantastic at the guard position. The game was never in question, but it’s exciting that we’re one step closer to a possible Spain - USA final! UPCOMING GAMES Sept 7th: Lithuania vs New Zealand Serbia vs Greece Turkey vs Australia Brazil vs Argentina Sept 9th: USA vs Slovenia Sept 10th: France vs Spain There were some exciting games today (shout-out to Mexico for qualifying for Round of 16 for first time!), but as you'll read below, I grew more and more frustrated watching teams miss opportunities by continuing to force shots. Before I get to a summary of the games on the final day of Group play, I have to ask a question to the coaches of all the teams…Why was this the poorest day for shooting the three? Don’t know? Because your players’ legs were gone! Why did you keep doing it when it clearly wasn’t working?!
Lithuania was one of the only teams whose coach changed the game plan (just in time) to begin driving the ball into the interior. You know I am critical of the NBA, but even those teams have the wherewithal to figure out another way to get the job done rather than continue to force shots. Coaches, your players depend on you to change strategy in order to give them a fighting chance. They worked too hard to get here to lose games due to poor coaching. I think playing three games in a row is crazy, but if that is the format, you're given, you have to adapt. You can tell I’m frustrated. Anyway, on to the wrap-up… GROUP A
GROUP B
GROUP C
GROUP D
The 5th day of FIBA is history - check below for notes on the games. The final day of Group play is already underway to determine who makes it to the Round of 16 Group A
Group B
Group C
Group D
Day 4 of the 2014 FIBA World Cup is in the books! FINLAND
The Finns suffered a tough loss to the Dominican Republic, 74-68. The Dominicans, led by their bigs Vargas and Garcia, out-rebounded the Finns 49-28. Vargas had 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Garcia recorded 16 points and 4 rebounds. DR withstood a shoot-out at the end of the game by securing two rebounds following missed free throws with the game at 69-65. Koponen willed the Finns to stay in the game by scoring 23 points and playing great D. He was a work horse and had 9 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals in 35 minutes on the court. Mikko Koivisto helped his team cut a 14-point deficit down to 3 by scoring 8 points (2/5 from the three). He finished with 3 rebounds and impressive defense during a solid 21 minutes. Unfortunately, the Finnish big men were no match for the DR tandem of Vargas and Garcia. The Finns are now 1-2 and play Turkey on Wednesday. ADDITIONAL RESULTS
With Groups C and D taking the day off, Groups A and B were in the spotlight on the third day of the 2014 FIBA World Cup. SPAIN:
With 5:42 left in the 4th quarter, a brass band in the arena started playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” and the Spanish fans erupted, as Spain punished a good Brazilian team to move to 3-0 in World Cup play. Mixing up zone and man, the Gasol brothers would not let the ball in to Tiago Splitter and forced Brazil’s guards to shoot threes. Spain jumped out to a 45-32 half time advantage. In the second half, the Gasol brothers took control yet again with Pau scoring 26 points (3/5 from the 3pt line). Guards Ricky Rubio and John Carlos Navarro put on a show with their crafty ball handling. With a 3 from Machado, the lead was cut to 71-54 but that was as close as it would get. The Spanish defense was formidable shutting down Splitter, Hilario and Barbosa. Once Spain took away the baseline, it was over. Spain also out-rebounded the more athletic Brazil team 41/32. The game was somewhat turnover-free, with Spain turning it over 10 times to Brazil's 6. Spain is the only team in Group A to be 3-0. ADDITIONAL RESULTS:
Looking forward to watching Team USA and the Group C and D teams battle it out on Tuesday! Analysis of the USA and Finnish games plus additional notable results from Day 2 USA: A befuddled USA team took 2.5 quarters to figure out a match-up zone implemented by Turkey, down 40-35 at the half and shooting jump shots. They finally figured out you beat a zone by spreading and putting a big on the high post and running a big on the base. Enter Kenneth Faried and a big fellow named Davis. They played pitch and catch to lead the USA to a 21 point win. Faried, who played for Donnie Tyndall at Morehead State, scored a game high 22, and Davis had 19. The zone initially confused the USA and slowed them down, but then the defense stepped up and chased the Turkish team. After a day off tomorrow, team USA faces New Zealand on Tuesday. FINLAND: It's great to get a win! The Finns played well enough to sneak by a Ukrainian team that was fresh off a win over the Dominican Republic. Time and time again, the Finns gave away big leads, anywhere from 12 to 17 points, by poor free throw shooting and the inability to stop cutters from the point position. Koponen had questionable footwork on defense which led to free throws or layups by the Ukrainian point guard. The Finnish bigs did a great job on the boards with Huff nailing some crucial shots. Koivisto had a very key 6-minute run in the late third quarter, and his three after the Ukrainians had cut a 17 point lead down to 3 was big. He then produced a steal and a nice assist to move the lead to 8 points. This was a much needed win, but it could have been a blow out. You can't be careless with the ball and you can't be careless in your substitution patterns. You have to let players settle in. Another big thing is that you cannot give away points at the free throw line. 52% is not acceptable. Nevertheless, a win is a win and this game was a great starting point to build on. Fans were great once more!!  Finnish player Mikko Koivisto's mother supporting the team ADDITIONAL RESULTS:
A few thoughts following the first day of competition...
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