USA Basketball Wins Gold At 2014 FIBA World Cup

Like almost every other game of the 2014 FIBA World Cup, USA Basketball got off to a slow start in the gold medal game against Serbia on Sunday. And like every other game in the tournament, once Team USA snapped out of their funk and put a string of runs together, it was all over for their opponent.

Despite Serbia looking dangerous early and opening up a 15-7 lead, Team USA quickly went on one of their typical runs — this one a 15-0 streak –to take a 22-15 advantage. From there, the Americans never looked back in their quest to the gold medal, which ended successfully with a thoroughly convincing 129-92 victory.

Kyrie Irving and James Harden led the first half blitz from three-point range for Mike Krzyzewski’s squad, blowing the game wide open by catching fire from downtown midway through the first quarter. By halftime, Irving had 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting (4-for-4 from downtown) and Harden followed up with 17 on 6-of-8 shooting (3-for-4 from downtown).

Irving finished with 26 points and four assists while Harden had 23. Team USA has now won four consecutive gold medals in international basketball tournaments — a feat no country had ever accomplished before — dating back to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Irving was given the 2014 FIBA World Cup MVP award and made the all-tournament team along with Kenneth Faried, Spain’s Pau Gasol, France’s Nicolas Batum and Serbia’s Milos Teodosic.

Despite Anthony Davis and Kenneth Faried falling into foul trouble early, Team USA was able to turn a 14-point first quarter lead into a 67-41 advantage heading into the half thanks to Irving and Harden. Team USA shot 9-for-13 from three-point range in the first half and made 59 percent of their shots from the floor. The Americans made 15 of their 30 three-point attempts for the game.

The Americans reached triple digits in the third quarter of the gold medal game, which was the 63rd consecutive win for USA Basketball. Despite concerns about how DeMarcus Cousins would function under Coach K because of his history with attitude problems, Boogie filled a tremendous role against Serbia with Davis and Faried in foul trouble. Cousins finished with 11 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. His plus/minus differential was +31, second only to Irving (+35).

In a game that was pretty much decided by halftime, there were plenty of fast break opportunities early. The game got a little sloppy in the second half, but it’s hard to fault Coach K’s squad for not staying completely focused with a 30-point advantage. The Amercians’ bench got some extended minutes in the second half, with Klay Thompson (12 points) Rudy Gay (11 points) and DeMar DeRozan (10 points) leading the charge.

Kenneth Faried added 12 points and seven rebounds, Anthony Davis finished with seven points and four rebounds despite putting up a goose egg in the first half and Stephen Curry had 10.

Derrick Rose was the only player from Team USA to finish with a goose egg on the scoreboard, but he was active once again on the defensive end, showed off some impressive handles and added five assists, including an impressive touch pass to Faried that led to a thunderous three-point play dunk.

With the clock finally striking midnight on the Cinderella Serbians, Nemanja Bjelica and Nikola Kalinic led the way with 18 points each. Recent Phoenix Suns draft pick Bogdan Bogdanovic finished with 15 and Teodosic, who has been inspiring some NBA chatter, had 10 points and seven assists. It was a tremendous run for Serbia, who should not be ashamed of their silver medals in any way.

Team USA won each of its games at the FIBA World Cup by more than 20 points and once Spain was upset in the quarterfinals, it was all but assured the Americans would take home the gold. Not bad for a team playing without LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love, LaMarcus Aldridge, Chris Paul and Dwight Howard.