Team USA has ensured its worst-ever finish at a FIBA World Cup event, losing to Serbia 94-89 in Thursday’s classification round game.
It was the matchup the world was waiting for at the FIBA World Cup. It just happened at the wrong place and time.
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Thursday’s classification round for fifth through eighth places at the FIBA World Cup opened with a meeting between Team USA and Serbia.
These were the teams that appeared to be on a collision course for a high-profile meeting in the semifinals, particularly given USA Basketball arriving with a full complement of 12 NBA players and Serbia winning its first four games by an average of more than 40 points a night.
For Serbia, it started to crumble at the end of the second round with a convincing loss to Spain followed by a double-digit defeat in the quarterfinals to Argentina.
Team USA showed its vulnerability early in the tournament, barely escaping an upset bid by Turkey — which finished 22nd among the 32 teams in the field — in its second game of the first-round group stage on Sept. 3.
The U.S. made it to the quarterfinals undefeated, but took one on the chin Wednesday, an 89-79 loss to France that set up the game the pundits were hoping for … to see which team would get to play for fifth place in the last game of the tournament to be played in Dongguan.
Team USA came out Thursday looking exactly like a team that lost 24 hours earlier and really didn’t want to be there. Bogdan Bogdanovic of the Sacramento Kings was on fire early, scoring 12 points on four consecutive 3-pointers in the first 4:02 of the game.
Bogdanovic left to have a cut on his arm attended to, but it didn’t matter. Serbia made just about everything in the first quarter and the U.S. countered by missing just about everything.
Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics made a 3-pointer for Team USA with 6:50 to go in the period to cut the Serbian lead to 11-5.
The next basket for the Americans was a turnaround jumper by Khris Middleton of the Milwaukee Bucks. Serbia had scored 15 straight points, Team USA had gone without a point for 5:39 and the rout appeared to be on.
Serbia, for good measure, closed the period with six consecutive points and led by a ridiculous 32-7 margin at the quarter break.
To its credit, Team USA battled back. They outscored Serbia 33-12 in the second quarter to close to within four by halftime at 44-40.
But the Americans could never quite get over the hump. Serbia’s lead shrunk to two points, 61-59, in the third quarter before the Serbians pushed the advantage back to six. The U.S. trailed by three, 71-68, entering the fourth quarter, well within striking distance.
Another scoring drought would spell the end for Team USA, however. Serbia scored seven unanswered points to open the fourth quarter and the U.S. didn’t get its first points until Harrison Barnes of the Kings knocked down two free throws with 6:14 remaining.
Barnes also ended the drought from the floor with a jumper on Team USA’s next possession, but 4:17 had elapsed and Serbia led 81-72 after Barnes’ bucket. The closest the Americans would get the rest of the way was to close the gap to four.
As has been the case throughout their stay in China, Team USA just didn’t shoot enough to win. They hit 43.7 percent (31-for-71) overall and were 11-for-31 (35.5 percent) from 3-point range. Not even a 41-33 edge on the glass could help them.
That’s because Serbia hit 52.4 percent (33-for-63) overall and was 15-for-31 (48.4 percent) from 3-point range, led by Bogdanovic’s 7-for-14 accuracy from downtown.
The rising third-year NBA guard had a game-high 28 points to go with six assists and Vladimir Lucic added 15 points, including a perfect 3-for-3 from deep.
Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets played point center, racking up seven assists in just 21 minutes while going 3-for-4 and scoring nine points.
Barnes, the only holdover on the Team USA roster from the gold-medal winning group in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics, had his best game of the tournament in the loss, scoring 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
Walker added 18 to go with a game-high eight assists and Middleton scored 16 points with a game-high six rebounds.
The U.S. will play Poland in Beijing on Saturday for seventh place, assuring them of their worst finish ever in a FIBA World Cup/World Championships. Their previous worst had been sixth in 2002, when the tournament was held in Indianapolis.
Czech Republic bounces back to beat Poland
At Shanghai, Tomas Satoransky of the Chicago Bulls continued his star turn for the upstart Czech Republic, leading his homeland to a 94-84 victory over Poland in the classification round semifinals on Thursday.
The Czech Republic, in the FIBA World Cup for the first time since the breakup of the old Czechoslovakia in the 1990s, has a shot at a top-five finish with the win, as they will face Serbia in Saturday’s fifth-place game.
For Poland, it was their third straight loss after opening the tournament 4-0, but both countries went much further than expected, considering they were the two lowest teams in the FIBA World Rankings to reach the round of eight.
The Czechs came in at No. 24 before the tournament and Poland was a spot behind them at No. 25.
Satoransky did what he’s done all tournament long, scoring and facilitating, but he had copious amounts of help against Poland.
Vojtech Hruban led the Czechs with a game-high 24 points to go with 12 rebounds as the Czech Republic dominated the glass by a 41-27 margin, and Jaromir Bohacik added 21 points.
Satoransky checked in with 22 points and 12 assists and is now averaging 15.9 points, 8.9 dimes and 6.1 boards in the tournament.
The Czechs led by one entering the fourth quarter and took a six-point edge before Poland stormed back and took a 77-74 lead on a 3-pointer by Aaron Cel with 4:54 left.
The teams traded the lead back and forth for the next several possessions before Hruban applied the dagger, a 3-pointer with 2:46 remaining that took the wind out of the sails of the tiring Poles.
Adam Waczynski led Poland with 22 points, while Damian Kulig notched 12 points, seven rebounds, three steals and three blocks in just 20 minutes off the bench. A.J. Slaughter had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists.
The seventh-place game between Poland and Team USA will tip off from Beijing at 4 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, with the fifth-place matchup between Serbia and the Czech Republic set to start at 8 a.m. Eastern.
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.