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Tag Archives: FIBA World Championship 2010

Team USA Gold Good News for Brazil, Canada

September 13, 2010   Tom Ziller   No comments

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Leandro BarbosaBy winning the World Championship, Team USA has clinched an all-important spot in the 2012 London Olympic tournament. That’s important because, as FanHouse’s Chris Tomasson has noted, a potential NBA lockout in 2011 could prevent signed players from participating in international competition.

Had Team USA failed to win the Worlds, it would have had to compete at the FIBA Americas tournament in August and September 2011 in Argentina, with the top two finishers moving on to the Olympics. Without any NBA players, that could have proven difficult, or at least caused some heartburn.

Even tamped down, though, the Americans would still have been favorites in Argentina when you consider other teams would be missing their own NBA players as well. As such, other FIBA Americas teams should be thanking the skies for Team USA’s win Sunday, as it effectively opens up a spot in the 2012 Olympics for another squad from the region.

Given the way home court advantage has buoyed teams in international competition, highlighted by Turkey’s magnificent run to silver at the Worlds, Argentina has to be considered a prohibitive top-two favorite at FIBA Americas, even if the team’s four NBA stars — Luis Scola, Carlos Delfino, Manu Ginobili and Andres Nocioni — can’t play due to lockout. The team is deep, with plenty of talent (Pablo Prigioni, Walter Herrmann) playing outside the NBA.

 

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Kevin Durant Named Worlds MVP, but Just Happy to Get the Gold

September 12, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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ISTANBUL — When Team USA began training camp two months ago in Las Vegas, Kevin Durant was confused with Chris Bosh at the airport. Durant had talked about being at a Charlotte shopping mall last season with his Oklahoma City teammates and folks thought they were college players.

It’s safe to say Durant left Turkey following the FIBA World Championship with a higher global profile than when he arrived.

That was quite evident as Durant, who could walk around freely early in the tournament, tried to leave the Sinan Erdem Dome on Sunday. There was much commotion as many people came up to pose alongside Durant for a photo, and the gracious forward complied. Eventually, though, a USA Basketball official had to make like a pulling guard to clear a free path for Durant.

That’s what happens when you are named Worlds MVP and average 33.0 points in your team’s final three games. Durant on Sunday scored 28 to lead the Americans to an 81-64 win over Turkey and its first Worlds gold medal since 1994.

“He elevated,” Team USA coach Mike Kryzewski said of Durant in the tournament. “He was on a pretty high floor already but he went close to being in the penthouse.”

 

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Scott Brooks on Kevin Durant’s Gold Medal Play at FIBA World Championship

September 12, 2010   Sam Amick   No comments

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For once, Oklahoma City head coach Scott Brooks was just like the rest of us.

He watched Team USA in action from a distance, checking the local programming before plopping on the couch and enjoying so many outings that led to Sunday’s win in the FIBA World Championship game over host Turkey. It was the first time since 1994 that the Americans won the gold, and they likely wouldn’t have done it without the Thunder‘s Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

Durant — who used a six-game, first-round loss to the Lakers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs as his personal postseason coming-out party — took his already-rising profile to a new level in the tournament. He scored 28 points in the finale (an 81-64 win), finishing the tournament with a U.S. Worlds record scoring average of 22.8 points per game.

Westbrook made an impact off the bench as well, providing defensive pressure throughout while using his attacking offensive game to have the same effect on the other end. He wasn’t the last of Brooks’ boys to be representing their country either, as Thunder center and Serbian Nenad Krstic joined his national team. The Serbians suffered close losses to Turkey and Lithuania in their final two games to finish fourth in the tournament.

Krstic was the most productive member of his team when he actually took part, averaging 13.5 points and 7.5 rebounds in six games. He was, however, suspended for the first three games after throwing a chair during a melee between Serbia and Greece in a warm-up game before the tournament game. Thunder forward Jeff Green also tried out for Team USA but was among the last players cut.

Even still, Brooks took pride in all of his players’ accomplishments. And with Thunder training camp just a few weeks away and the next decade looking brighter for his team than any other, the reigning NBA Coach of the Year talked with FanHouse about the value of his players’ international experience and what it means for the the upcoming season.

 

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Durant Leads Team USA to First Worlds Gold Since 1994

September 12, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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ISTANBUL — Turns out they were even calling themselves the B-team. Take it from American forward Andre Iguodala.

“We were the B-Team,” he said. “We beat everybody. That’s what we say.”

The Americans sure did. They finished off a 9-0 run Sunday at the FIBA World Championship with a resounding 81-64 win over host Turkey before a raucous crowd at the Sinan Erdem Dome. It marked Team USA’s first gold in the event since 1994.

But this one was hardly considered a formality. Whether it was called the B-Team, the junior varsity or the leftovers, all the talk about the top NBA superstars not being on hand fired up the guys in red, white and blue.

“That was everybody’s motivation,” said forward Kevin Durant. “Back in the United States, everybody doubted us and said it was going to be tough for us. But we came out and proved everybody wrong.”

The Americans arrived in Turkey without any holdovers from the gold-medal winning 2008 Olympic team, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. But, as it turned out, Durant is as good as any of those guys.

The Oklahoma City forward continued his amazing tournament with 28 points Sunday. He averaged a U.S. Worlds record 22.8 points for the event, including averaging 33.0 in the final three games, which counted the most.

 

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Hedo Turkoglu Comes Up Huge at Home

September 11, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Hedo TurkogluISTANBUL — All around Istanbul, there are gigantic photos of Hedo Turkoglu to promote the FIBA World Championship.

Turkoglu doesn’t like that. Might it have anything to do with the pressure Turkey’s big star has to be carrying for his nation?

No. the Phoenix Suns forward insists the pressure isn’t too intense. He doesn’t like it for another reason.

“Actually, I hate those pictures,” Turkoglu said. “Because wherever I go, people try to look at me as a giant. So I don’t like those. I’m a regular guy.”

Turkoglu was speaking to a small group of reporters in the bowels of the Sinan Erdem Dome long after Turkey’s dramatic 83-82 semifinal win Saturday over Serbia. Turkoglu hasn’t given a lot of interviews during the Worlds, but how he could he not resist talking about the greatest day in Turkish basketball history?

The win, sealed when guard Kerem Tunceri made a layup with half of a second remaining, advanced Turkey into Sunday’s gold medal game against Team USA. Prior to these Worlds, Turkey had never finished better than the sixth in the event and had never even qualified until 2002.

 

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Taking a Cab Ride in Turkey? Beware the Magic Button

September 11, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Mete, a Turkish cabbie without a magic button

ISTANBUL — You might recall the 1978 movie Midnight Express, which was named after a train and didn’t exactly portray Turkey in a positive light with its depiction of an American arrested for drug smuggling and brutally treated in prison.

Well, a Serbian television broadcaster has blogged about what he calls “Taxi Express.”

Visitors to Istanbul for the FIBA World Championship overall look to be having a great time. But there does seem to be at least one very unwelcoming aspect of the city.

Not all Turkish cab drivers are dishonest. The great majority aren’t. But it’s still hard to find a visitor here who has taken taxis and hasn’t run into at least one crooked cabbie. Since many travel books don’t seem to be getting into specifics on these schemes, consider it a public service that we will do so here.

One scheme is the magic button. I was a victim of it once and so was Slobodan Sarenac, the blogging Serbian TV guy.

 

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One Giant Moment: Turkey Advances to FIBA Final at Home

September 11, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Hedo TurkogluISTANBUL — After the dramatic win, guard Kerem Tunceri was asked about the basket heard throughout Turkey.

Suddenly, Turkey coach Bogdan Tanjevic interrupted Tunceri and answered the question himself.

“You think it was a tactical thing?” Tanjevic said to the questioner. “Nothing except luck.”

Whatever you might call it, Turkey will take it. After what looked like a possible turnover by star forward Hedo Turkoglu, Tunceri made a layup with five-tenths of a second remaining Saturday before a raucous crowd at the Sinan Erdem Dome to earn the greatest basketball win in the nation’s history. Turkey beat Serbia 83-82 in the FIBA World Championship semifinal to earn a date with Team USA in Sunday’s championship game.

It is said soccer is by far the most popular sport in the country but few could remember a soccer celebration like the one Saturday. The fans went wild and sang following the victory. Turkish players made a dogpile at midcourt before eventually getting up to dance.

“It was an amazing game,” said guard Sinan Guler. “A great experience. I can’t put it into words.”

 

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Kevin Durant Stars as Team USA Moves Within One Game of Gold

September 11, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Kevin DurantISTANBUL — It was red, white and beautiful.

Playing on Sept. 11, the Americans paid homage to those who died nine years earlier. Players covered their hearts during the national anthem. Some wrote “9/11” on their shoes.

In honor of the day, forward Kevin Durant went so far as to walk over near the stands at the Sinan Erdem Dome and offer a salute when he drilled a three-pointer in the fourth quarter of Team USA’s resounding 89-74 win over Lithuania in a FIBA World Championship semifinal Saturday.

“I just want to remember everybody back in the states and everybody who was affected by 9/11,” Durant said. “To play on this day is a great honor. We just tried to do our best to play hard for our country and our families and everybody that was lost on 9/11. It was kind of emotional to take the court on this day, and I’m glad we got the job done.”

Did Durant ever do the job. In leading the Americans into Sunday’s gold-medal game against host Turkey, which came from behind to beat Serbia 83-82 later Saturday, he broke a number of Team U.S. Worlds scoring records.

Durant’s 38 points topped the mark of 35 Carmelo Anthony set in 2006. In shooting 14-of-25, he set records for field goals attempted and made in a game. And the Oklahoma City star, averaging 22.1 points in the tournament, needs just six points Sunday to break Luther Burden’s 1974 mark of 20.2 for highest ever by an American in the Worlds.

 

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Team USA Notebook: Importance of Winning Gold, Rose on Carmelo

September 10, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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Jerry ColangeloISTANBUL — It’s a weekend that will determine the next two years for Team USA.

If the Americans, who face Lithuania in a semifinal Saturday, win the FIBA World Championship gold medal Sunday at the Sinan Erdem Dome, they will clinch a berth to the 2012 Olympics in London.

But if Team USA falls short and an NBA lockout prevents NBA players from participating in an Americas qualifying tournament next summer in Argentina, there could be some anxious moments. With many observers believing there will be a lockout, FanHouse two weeks ago looked at what could happen if the Americans don’t win the Worlds gold.

“If we can come away with a championship, it would clarify things for us next summer,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said in an interview Friday with FanHouse. “It’s not a matter of urgency. What it is is reality. The reality is if you win, you don’t have to be concerned with next summer because you’ve automatically qualified. If you don’t win, everything is up in the air because you don’t know what’s going to happen next summer (with the NBA collective bargaining agreement expiring June 30, 2011).

“I know the easiest thing for me is, let’s win. And then we can kind of ride the storm out, whatever that storm is. … The easiest path is win, and then everything else takes care of itself.”

 

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Lithuania a Familiar Foil for Team USA

September 10, 2010   Chris Tomasson   No comments

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ISTANBUL — Jerry Colangelo was the architect of the Redeem Team. But where did it all start that USA Basketball would need redemption?

Chinks in the armor began courtesy of Lithuania, a tiny nation of 3.3 million, about the size of Connecticut.

In 1992, the Dream Team rolled to a gold medal in the first Olympics with NBA players. That was followed by NBA stars leading the Americans to easy wins in the 1994 FIBA World Championship and the 1996 Olympics.

An NBA lockout stalled matters in 1998, and a group of minor leaguers and college kids took bronze at the Worlds. Then came the 2000 Olympics, when the Americans had a good team but one that was also missing some very top NBA players.

Entering the event, U.S. pro players had not played a game closer than 15 points while going undefeated in 1992, 1994 and 1996. In group play in 2000, they beat Lithuania by just nine. And in an Olympic semifinal Lithuania came close to providing one of the most shocking sports upsets ever.

A desperation three-pointer by Sarunas Jasikevicius at the buzzer fell short, and Team USA escaped with an 85-83 win. The Americans won the gold medal two days later but their aura of invincibility was slipping away.

 

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