FIBA World Cup: Team USA can’t overcome lethargic start, loses to Serbia

Spain, France on a collision course?

The pre-tournament favorites are both gone, with Team USA and Serbia eliminated in the quarterfinals.

What remains in the FIBA World Cup semifinals, however, are three of the top five teams in the FIBA World Rankings and a team just outside the top 10 desperate for a breakthrough.

The four remaining teams — No. 5 Argentina, No. 11 Australia, No. 3 France and No. 2 Spain — are a combined 23-1 in the tournament, with France owning the lone loss. That was a 100-98 loss to Australia to close out the second round.

The first semifinal is set for 4 a.m. Eastern on Friday, with Spain and Australia meeting in FIBA World Cup play for the first time in 21 years.

The Boomers are already assured of their best finish ever at the FIBA World Cup, having placed fifth in 1982 and 1994, and they are looking for their first medal in world competition coming off a fourth-place finish in Rio de Janeiro at the Olympics three years ago.

Spain reached the semifinals with a 90-78 victory over Poland on Tuesday in Shanghai, with Ricky Rubio of the Phoenix Suns leading the way with 19 points, nine assists and five rebounds.

Rubio is Spain’s leading scorer in the tournament at 15.3 points per game and is also leading the team with 5.5 assists a night.

Marc Gasol of the Toronto Raptors is putting up 11.3 points, 5.2 boards and 3.7 helpers and Denver’s Juan Hernangomez is averaging 10.8 points and a team-best 5.7 rebounds.

Spain is averaging 80.8 points per game on 45.4 percent shooting overall and is hitting just 32.4 percent from 3-point range on 28.8 attempts per game in the tournament.

That contrasts with Australia, which has managed to combine its trademark physical play with an up-tempo style under coach Andrej Lemanis, who has headed Australia’s national team since 2013 and also coaches the Brisbane Bullets in Australia’s National Basketball League.

Patty Mills of the San Antonio Spurs had 24 points and six assists to lead the Boomers to an 82-70 victory over the Czech Republic at Shanghai on Wednesday in the quarterfinals.

Mills is leading the team at 22.2 points per game — third-best in the tournament — while also averaging 4.5 dimes per night.

Aron Baynes of the Suns is putting up 13.3 points and a team-leading 5.8 rebounds a game, while Joe Ingles of the Utah Jazz is doing a little of everything, averaging 10.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.8 assists.

Matthew Dellavedova of the Cleveland Cavaliers leads the club with 6.0 assists per game to go with 10.2 points a night.

The Boomers score 90.0 points per game and have shot 50.8 percent overall in the tournament while knocking down a solid 40 percent from deep on 26.7 attempts per game.

This is the third meeting between Spain and Australia in the FIBA World Cup, with Spain winning both of the previous matchups.

In Colombia in 1982, Spain posted a 99-87 win in the semifinal round (a six-team group stage). In Greece in 1998, Spain beat Australia 77-76 in first-round group play.

The second semifinal, set for 8 a.m. Eastern on Friday, pits Argentina and France, with Argentina holding a 3-0 record in their previous head-to-head meetings in the FIBA World Cup. They last played in 2006, when Argentinian forward Luis Scola was only in his late 40s.

Slight exaggeration, but the 39-year-old Scola has been a revelation in this tournament. A fan favorite after playing the last two seasons in the Chinese Basketball Association, Scola leads the team with averages of 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per game.

Point guard Facundo Campazzo averages 13.8 points and a team-best 8.0 assists per game and Gabriel Deck is putting up 12.3 points per game.

Argentina got to the semifinals with a solid 97-87 victory over Serbia on Tuesday in Dongguan, with Scola scoring 20 points and Campazzo dishing out 12 dimes.

They are averaging 88.8 points per game in the tournament, while shooting 46.5 percent overall and hitting 36.9 percent on 26.7 3-point attempts per game.

France bounced back from its loss to Australia on Monday to beat Team USA in Wednesday’s quarterfinal battle in Dongguan, 89-79, behind 22 points from Orlando Magic guard Evan Fournier and 21 points and 16 rebounds by Jazz big man Rudy Gobert.

Fournier is averaging 21.0 points and also leads the team with 3.7 assists per game, while Nando De Colo is scoring 17.0 points a night. Gobert is at 12.7 points and a team-high 9.7 boards per game.

France averages 89.3 points per game and has shot a sizzling 52.4 percent overall, making 45 percent on 20.0 3-point tries a game.

The big question for Argentina will be handling the matchup with Gobert, as they don’t have a player taller than 6-foot-9 on the roster. Marcos Delia has been starting at center for Argentina, with Tayavek Galizzi backing him up, but both players got into foul trouble against Serbia.

That forced Agustin Caffaro to play five minutes — his longest stint of the tournament — and he held his own, getting a rebound and using two fouls.

Delia is averaging 22.8 minutes, but played only 13 against Serbia. Galizzi logged picked up three fouls in just two minutes in the win over Serbia, with Scola — at 6-foot-8 — spending considerable time at the 5.

The teams last met in first-round group play in 2006 in Japan, with Argentina getting an 80-70 win to open the tournament.

Their other two matchups both took place in the very first FIBA World Championships, held in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1950. Argentina got a 56-40 win in the second round and a 40-35 victory in the final round, a six-team group stage.

Argentina won its first and only FIBA world title that year. France’s best finish was a bronze medal in 2014.

The losers of the semifinals will meet in the third-place game on Sunday at 4 a.m. Eastern. The final is set for 8 a.m. Sunday to wrap up 92 games in 16 days in China.