Saturday night I had the pleasure of watching a US international
basketball team hit midrange jumpers and three pointers, play
suffocating defense and unselfishly pass the ball.
No, it wasn't the US women. The unbeaten since 1996 US women ballers begin defense of their FIBA world championship title in Sao Paulo, Brazil September 12-23.
While channel surfing I stumbled across the start of the FIBA World Championships USA-Australia quarterfinal game from Saitama, Japan that Team USA won 117-93. This team has Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Elton Brand as featured players and is coached by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. The FIBA Championship Tournament was first conducted in 1950 and happens every four years.
They face the Dirk Nowitzki led German team August 30 and the winner
advances to the Gold Medal game versus the Greece-France winner. The French squad included the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker but he's out
with a broken finger.
Team USA won their group with a 5-0 record but received a major scare
from perennial international b-ball power Italy. They trailed by
nine at halftime and by 12 early in the third quarter before pulling
that game out 94-85 thanks to 35 points from Carmelo Anthony and 28
points from Dwyane Wade.
While the US has dominated Olympic basketball play since 1936 (the
only times we didn't win gold were the disputed 1972 gold medal game
versus the Soviet Union in Munich, the boycotted Moscow Games in
1980, the 1988 Seoul Games and Athens in 2004) that's not the case in
FIBA championship play. The USA has only won the event three times
(1954, 1986, 1994) and suffered the indignity in 2002 of not only
losing on home soil in Indy but failing to win a medal.
This version of Team USA is determined to begin the process of
reestablishing US basketball supremacy. The rest of the world is just
as determined to not only make a name for themselves, but embarrass
the US ballers at the same time.
If they keep playing like they did Saturday night, Coach K and
company should be wearing gold medals, hoisting the FIBA championship
trophy and singing the Star Spangled Banner when this one is over.
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