The final day of group play at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup not only determined who made it to the round of 16, but who they would play ? and who they could play after that.Lets make it clear. There are two great teams in this tournament. They are Spain and the United States, and you will have a hard time finding anyone who doesnt think they will meet in the gold medal game in Madrid on Sept. 14. After that, however, there are at least nine teams that could think they have a shot at a bronze medal. But you can only get to the bronze medal game if you first make the semifinals. And it will be extremely difficult to make the semis if you face Spain or the U.S. before then. So, for those nine teams, with Spain clinching spot A1 (for finishing first in Group A) and the Americans clinching spot C1 (first in Group C) on Wednesday, there are two desired quarters of the bracket to be in. In Madrid, theres the A4-B1-A2-B3 quarter, which avoids Spain until the semifinals. And in Barcelona, theres the C4-D1-C2-D3, which avoids the U.S. until the semis. Brazil clinched its spot as A2 with its win over Serbia on Wednesday. Everything else was up for grabs on Thursday. Group A Final placement: Spain (5-0) Brazil (4-1) France (3-2) Serbia (2-3) Thursday notes - In the first game that didnt matter, Brazil hammered Egypt, 128-65. After its big breakout on Wednesday, the Brazil offense continued to roll, with Leandro Barbosa scoring 22 points (on 8-for-9 shooting) and dishing out five assists in just 23 minutes. - Ultimately, the second game was the only game that counted for anything. After Wednesdays win over Egypt, Iran had a shot at fourth place if it could pull off an upset. And it showed a lot of heart, cutting a 17-point deficit down to five with a late rally. But it fell short, and France prevailed 81-76. - France could have put itself in the more favorable A4 spot with a strategic loss. And it did try to get its best players some rest; Nicolas Batum sat for most of the second half. But when Iran made it close at the end, Batum and Boris Diaw were back on the floor and France played to win. - France coach Vincent Collet: You can see we wanted to win this game, no question. We know, being third, we could cross with Spain in the quarterfinals. Thats basketball. - The third game could have meant something, but was rendered meaningless by the Iran-France result, because even if Serbia tied France with a 3-2 record, the head-to-head tiebreaker went to France. Still, Serbia coach Sasha Djordjevic get tossed and Marc and Pau Gasol each played 28 minutes in Spains 89-73 win. Group B Final placement: Greece (5-0) Croatia (3-2) Argentina (3-2) Senegal (2-3) Thursday notes - We got another thriller from the Philippines, and this time, they won! The overtime result locked Senegal into the fourth spot in the group and a matchup with Spain on Saturday. - Croatia clinched its spot in the round of 16 with a 103-82 win over Puerto Rico. Nets incoming rookieBojan Bogdanovic had another big game with 23 points on just eight shots, getting to the line 17 times. - Sixers youngsters Michael Carter-Williams, Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel, along with GM Sam Hinkie and coach Brett Brown, were in Sevilla to support future Sixer Dario Saric, who shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the field and showed off his open-court skills one more time. - The final game was for first place in the group and avoiding Spain until the semis. Greece built an early lead and held off Argentina for a 79-71 victory, which left them as one of just three undefeated teams in group play. Group C Final placement: USA (5-0) Turkey (3-2) Dominican Republic (2-3) New Zealand (2-3) Thursday notes - At the start of the day, all six teams were still alive. - New Zealands 67-65 victory over Finland sent the Haka to Barcelona and sent Finland and meant that Ukraine would have had to beat the U.S. to advance. That didnt happen. - So, after USAs win over Mike Fratellos crew, we knew what Group C teams were in. And Turkeys win over the Dominican Republic in the nightcap put them opposite the U.S. in the Barcelona side of the bracket. - Ultimately, what knocked out Ukraine was one point. Dominican Republic, New Zealand andUkraine all went 2-3 and all went 1-1 against each other. In those three games, Dominican Republic had a point differential of plus-3, New Zealand had a point differential of minus-1, and Ukraine had a point differential of minus-2. Group D Final placement: Lithuania (4-1) Slovenia (4-1) Australia (3-2) Mexico (2-3) Thursday notes - Heres where we saw some shadiness. Australia appeared to tank itself into the D3 spot by losing to Angola in the first game of the day. - Neither Aron Baynes nor Joe Ingles played. Matthew Dellavedova and David Andersen each played just four minutes. And with a 13-point halftime lead, Australia seemingly escorted Angola to the rim in the second half, allowing what was a below-average offense through four games to score 62 points in 20 minutes. - Slovenias Goran Dragic didnt like what he saw? - Mexico booked its ticket to Barcelona for a Sunday matchup with the U.S. by knocking off Korea. That result also eliminated Angola. - The final game in Gran Canaria was for first place in the group and placement on the non-USA quarter in Barcelona. Lithuania came back from 12 down and held the tournaments No. 1 offence (through Wednesday) to just two points in the fourth quarter to pull out a 67-64 win over Slovenia.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Sep 2014 11:00:03 +0000
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