Sports/Olympics / Basketball
A look at the world basketball championship
(AP)
Updated: 2006-09-04 10:52
SAITAMA, Japan _ The easy way to sum up the FIBA world championship is to
list the medal winners, from gold to bronze _ Spain, Greece, and the
United States.
But there was much more to a tournament that captivates most of the world
even if Americans consider it the halfway mark to another Olympics.
There were 80 games among 24 teams over 15 days in five cities. The
organizers said about 70 per cent of the tickets were sold, and the
semifinals, bronze medal game and final drew crowds of 14,000 or more to
Saitama Super Arena, a NBA-caliber building about 30 kilometers (20
miles) north of Tokyo.
In addition to the 12,518 points scored, 3,445 fouls committed, 1,156
missed free throws, there were plenty of great team and individual
performances, as well as some stinkers, surprises and signs international
basketball is extremely healthy.
=
BEST PERFORMANCES: Basketball purists will watch again and again the
tapes of Greece’s semifinal victory over the United States and Spain’s
championship win over Greece.
Greece, a team without a NBA player, came into the semifinals with a
reputation for defense. It added an offensive masterpiece to its resume,
shooting 70 per cent from the field over the final three quarters, using
one basic play _ the pick-and-roll _ to beat a roster of NBA stars.
Spain then went one better to win the gold medal, holding Greece to 47
points and 33 per cent shooting in a 23-point victory despite not having
injured Memphis Grizzlies star Pau Gasol.
The stars of those games were the teams, something that doesn’t happen
often at any level of basketball.
=
BEST GAME: There was no topping Germany’s 108-103 victory over Angola in
the opening round, the first triple-overtime game in the history of the
world championship, despite both teams already having clinched
second-round berths.
Dirk Nowitzki had 47 points for Germany, 11 in the third overtime. He hit
a 3-pointer with less than a second left at the end of the first
overtime, and finished 17-for-17 from the free throw line. He also
grabbed 16 rebounds in the best individual performance of the tournament.
=
WORST ENDING: The winning team never thinks a game is ugly but the
Lithuania-Italy second-round game was one that was painful to watch at
the end and even the ever-polite Japanese fans started groaning.
Lithuania led 69-68 with 7.8 seconds left when the teams started a free
throw shooting exhibition that made Shaquille O’Neal’s problems at the
line seem trivial.
Linas Kleiza of Lithuania missed two foul shots, but teammate Darius
Songaila grabbed the rebound of the second and was fouled with 4.9
seconds left. He missed both, but teammate Darius Lavrinovic got the
rebound of the second and laid it in with 2.8 seconds left for a 71-68
lead.
Italy’s Marco Belinelli was fouled with 2.1 seconds left and missed both
attempts, the second on purpose. Teammate Gianluca Basile got the rebound
and as he tossed up a shot from beyond the 3-point line with less than a
second left he was unbelievably fouled by Arvydas Macijaukas. With a
chance to tie the game, Basile missed all three free throws.
In 7.8 seconds there nine missed free throws, three offensive rebounds
after misses and one of the worst fouls ever committed.
=
MOVING MOMENT: At halftime of the classification game between Lithuania
and Turkey, a 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck the greater Tokyo area. No
damages or injuries were reported.
=
COACHING CHANGES: Tab Baldwin of New Zealand and Julio Toro of Puerto
Rico both stepped down as national coaches during the tournament. Nestor
Salazar of Venezuela offered his resignation but the national federation
has to officially accept it.
=
STAT CORNER: NBA players were the top three scorers in the tournament.
China’s Yao Ming averaged 25.3 points, followed by Germany’s Dirk
Nowitzki (23.2) and Spain’s Pau Gasol (21.3). The top U.S. scorers were
Carmelo Anthony (19.9) and Dwyane Wade (19.3).
Venezuela’s Richard Lugo was the leading rebounder with 11.4 per game.
Gasol (9.4), Darko Milicic (9.3), Nowitzki (9.2) and Yao (9.0) rounded
out the top five.
Pepe Sanchez of Argentina was the top playmaker with 5.8 assists per game.
=
BIG INJURIES: Two days before the tournament started France lost star
guard Tony Parker after he broke a finger in the team’s final exhibition
game. In the second semifinal, Spain lost center Pau Gasol to a broken
foot.
France finished fifth for its best placing in 43 years.
=
RISING STARS: International teams are wary of using inexperienced players
in major competitions so it’s rare to get a look at anyone in their early
20s in these tournaments. The U.S. is the exception with a core group of
captains Dwyane Wade (24), Carmelo Anthony (22) and LeBron James (21).
There were some young players on display and among them were Turkey
forward Ersan Ilyasova (19), who belongs to the Milwaukee Bucks; Spain
guard Sergio Rodriguez (19), who signed with the Portland Trail Blazers
this summer; Lithuania point guard Mantas Kalnietis (19); Nigeria forward
Ekene Ibekwe (21); and China point guard Chen Jianghua (17), the youngest
player in the tournament.
There was one coach to keep an eye on and someone did. Former NBA player
Sam Vincent led Nigeria to the second round, two years after leading the
Nigeria women’s team to Africa’s first Olympic win. Within days of
Nigeria being eliminated in a one-point loss to Germany, Vincent was
signed as an assistant by the Dallas Mavericks.
=
OUT OF AFRICA: Angola had never reached the quarterfinals of the worlds
and always left saying the players were happy with their effort and
showing they could compete with quality teams.
No more.
After losing 68-62 to France in the second round, the eight-time African
champions were visibly upset and said they were no longer content being
the sentimental favorite of media and fans.
Combined with Nigeria’s strong showing into the second round, it won’t be
much of a stretch to see an African team put itself in position to chase
a medal in the Beijing Olympics.
=
CRUSHING LOSS: Japan needed one win in its last two games of the opening
round to move to the final 16, which would have been a great
accomplishment for an improving national program and a chance for the
home fans to be part of the biggest game in the country’s history.
Japan had an 18-point halftime lead over New Zealand in the next-to-last
game of the first round and the celebration had already begun in the
stands. New Zealand rallied to a 60-57 victory and Japan was no match for
Spain in the final game, losing 104-55.
The growing silence of the home crowd in the loss to New Zealand will be
tough to forget.
=
FRUSTRATED YAO: It was obvious China’s Yao Ming, the best big man at the
worlds, was losing patience with his teammates’ inability to get him the
ball where he gets it with the Houston Rockets.
The 2.26-meter (7-foot-5) Yao, the tournament’s leading scorer at 25.3
points per game, could have scored more if he didn’t have to constantly
make repeated moves to get room for what were usually tough shots.
China averaged 17.3 turnovers per game and most of those were from the
guards, a position that must be upgraded if the host country is to have
any chance at an Olympic medal in Beijing in 2008.
Point guard Chen Jianghua, at 17, the youngest player in the tournament,
could be the answer if he can develop enough in just two years to have an
impact against experienced guards.
=
WHERE TO?: The next world championship will be in Turkey in 2010. The
worlds were last in Europe in 1998, when Athens hosted.
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