FIBA World Cup: Greeks, Czechs advance to 2nd round; Day 6 takeaways

Turkey can’t bounce back from emotional loss

At Shanghai, in a game to decide Group E’s second spot in the second round of the FIBA World Cup, Turkey got off to a quick start against the Czech Republic, taking a quick 9-4 lead.

It was all downhill from there as the Czechs recovered and the Turks seemed to feel the effects of their overtime loss to Team USA on Tuesday.

Turkey’s last, best chance came early in the fourth quarter, when Melih Mahmutoglu drained a 3-pointer to close the gap back to three points at 69-66. But the Czech Republic had an answer, scoring eight consecutive points to push the lead back into double figures at 77-66 with 6:19 left.

Ersan Ilyasova of the Bucks made a pair of free throws with 3:11 left that got Turkey back to within six at 80-74, but the Czechs finished on a 11-2 run to put the game away.

The Czechs were dominant inside, with a 48-20 advantage in the paint. Ondrej Balvin had much of that output, finishing with 17 points and 11 rebounds while going 8-for-9 from the floor.

Turkey took great care of the basketball, committing only three turnovers, but they just could not make shots. The Turks hit 38.3 percent (23-for-60) overall and were 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) from 3-point range, but were crushed 41-26 on the glass.

Cedi Osman led the Turks with 24 points, while Furkan Korkmaz of the Philadelphia 76ers added 16 and Mahmutoglu dropped in 14. But no one for Turkey had more than four rebounds, as their big man, Semih Erden, was in foul trouble much of the game and logged only 23 minutes.

Vojtech Hruban led the Czech Republic with 18 points, while Tomas Satoransky shook off a 1-for-8 night from the floor with seven rebounds and seven assists, while Jaromir Bohacik scored 15 points.

The Czechs were a terrific 59 percent overall (36-for-61) and 7-for-17 (41.2 percent) from deep, but had real problems at the line early in the game and finished 12-for-19 (63.2 percent).

In the nightcap from Shanghai, Team USA scored the first 13 points and never looked back in a 98-45 win over Japan.

As expected, Jayson Tatum of the Boston Celtics sat out with a sprained left ankle. What was unexpected was that his Boston teammate, Marcus Smart, was also unavailable with a left quad strain and is day-to-day, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.

Without Tatum available, Team USA turned to Joe Harris of the Brooklyn Nets to start and he responded with 10 points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.

Jaylen Brown of the Celtics stole the show, however, with 20 points and seven rebounds.

Kemba Walker of Boston added 15 points and eight assists, while Myles Turner of the Indiana Pacers finished with nine rebounds. Harrison Barnes of the Sacramento Kings went for 14 points and eight boards.

But USA Basketball coach Gregg Popovich does need to be concerned moving forward, because his club is still not shooting well.

Against a Japanese squad content to give up a ton of open looks while hanging back in a 2-3 zone, the Americans shot 48 percent (39-for-81) overall and were 14-for-41 (34 percent) from 3-point range.

Team USA is shooting 35.5 percent from 3-point range thus far in the tournament and 44.2 percent overall.

But on a day when you’re outrebounding your opponents 58-33 while they are also turning the ball over 18 times and making only 27 percent (17-for-62) of their shots, it was more than enough for the U.S. to cruise.

Japan was also only 3-for-17 from deep (18 percent) and aside from 18 points by Yudai Baba and one big dunk from Washington Wizards rookie Rui Hachimura, it was a day to forget.

Turkey (1-2) and Japan (0-3) will move to classification round Group O in Dongguan.