Golden State Warriors: FIBA World Basketball Cup Wrap-Up
By Ben Woodward
The 2014 FIBA World Cup wrapped up Sunday afternoon with a 129-92 blowout, and the United States claiming another gold medal in the tournament record books thanks in part to a few members of the Golden State Warriors.
This year’s tournament was full of surprise performances from guys looking to make a name for themselves. Some teams went above and beyond the expectations set for them at the beginning of the games.
One storyline that Golden State Warriors fans will enjoy is that the Dubs boasted three roster members that appeared in the FIBA World Cup. Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson of the United States, and Leandro Barbosa of Team Brazil all played important roles for their respective ball clubs.
Golden State Warriors All-Star guard Steph Curry shared the role of Team USA’s point guard alongside Kyrie Irving — the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award winner. Curry didn’t exactly shine in the gold medal game, shooting 2-of-7 from three-point range and making all four of his free throws. Steph notched a total of 10 points in the victory.
The other half of the Golden State Warriors’ guard tandem made his presence felt in the final game of the tournament. Klay Thompson managed a 5-of-8 shooting performance, hitting twice from deep. He even recorded two blocks while playing solid defense on Milos Teodosic, an established 27-year-old Serbian veteran forward rumored to be contemplating a move to the NBA.
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Blue Man Hoop
Looking back on the 2014 FIBA World Basketball Cup, the Splash Brothers had a very productive summer together for the red, white and blue. We already knew they could shoot the lights out in the NBA. Now Steph and Klay have asserted themselves as the premier three-point shooters on a gold medal-winning international team.
Averaging 20.7 minutes per game, Stephen Curry finished the tournament with a 10.7 PPG average. The Golden State Warrior point guard also managed a 43.8 percent three point shooting average from the shortened international shooting arc.
Klay Thompson also got the chance to showcase that top-tier three-point shooting we’re all spoiled with during the NBA season. Averaging 12.3 points for the tournament and shooting 41.5 percent from deep, Klay rounded out a steady barrage of offensive attacks on opponents from everywhere on the court.
One of the newest additions to the Golden State Warriors also made his presence felt on the world stage of the FIBA tournament. Combo guard Leandro Barbosa, who recently signed on with the Warriors, played a major role with the Brazilian team this summer.
Playing 24 minutes per game and averaging 11.9 points per game, Barbosa looked like he hasn’t skipped a beat from his sixth man days with the Phoenix Suns when he was coming off the bench in the first round of the 2006 NBA Playoffs and dropping 26 points against Kobe Bryant‘s Los Angeles Lakers.
To be fair, Barbosa is only 31 years old. Some have counted him out as any kind of a difference-maker in the fast pace of the Golden State Warriors, and that he’ll only look good in international play, a la Serbian captain Nenad Krstic.
Side note — Krstic posted a monster double-double playing for the Boston Celtics towards the end of the 2010-11 season, and that’s the last memory I had of the big fella until this World Basketball Cup, so that was fun.
Golden State Warriors fans should be very proud and excited for their three internationally-seasoned players to return to Oakland and get to work for a 2014-15 NBA season sure to be packed with excitement and potential for big success.