True basketball enthusiasts are surely following the FIBA World Championships taking place in Japan.
We are now into the final weekend. In fact the semi-finals are being played today, the bronze medal game tomorrow and the final next Sunday.
The pairings for today’s semis are Argentina vs. Spain and USA vs. Greece. The former should be a scorcher as both sides contain a large amount of talent. The USA start favourites against Greece but then the latter have nothing to lose and if they display their usual unyielding and resolute defensive plays, then the Americans may face a tough battle.
Returning to the attention-grabbing Argentina-Spain encounter, both teams (who have yet to lose in the FIBA World Championship) entered the FIBA World Championship with heavy expectations. However, at this stage, only one side will be able to progress to the last stage of the competition.
The Argentinians were the silver medallists of the 2002 FIBA World Championship (which included handing Team USA their first defeat since they began using NBA players in international tournaments 10 years before) and gold medallists of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games.
This recent success has largely been responsible for building excitement around the sport in the country. One could easily anticipate that a third or fourth place finish would be considered a let down for them.
Just a few days before the competition, Argentina were not showing fine form and even lost to Spain 79-67 in Madrid early in August. However, since the championships started, Argentina increased the tempo and won by an average of almost 24 points after seven games. They beat Turkey quite convincingly 83-58 in the quarter-finals.
Spain’s success has been equally impressive. The Spaniards, led by NBA star Pau Gasol, marched to a 7-0 record by an average win margin of 24.8 points. They reached the semi-finals with a 89-67 win over Lithuania, including Gasol’s 25 points and nine rebounds and Juan Carlos Navarro’s 22 points.
Gasol knows how to take advantage of the international rules and regulations, such as on legal tips and deflections when the ball is on the rim, something not allowed in the NBA.
Spain’s second most dangerous weapon is Juan Carlos Navarro who is known to have one of the best running one-handers in basketball.
Jose Calderon, who joined the Toronto Raptors last season pairs up easily with Navarro and have shown to being able to handle any opponents’ press quite effectively. They also have good reserves in Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy Fernandez. The former plays in the NBA and is known for his crisp passing.
Under the boards, Spain have a lot of experience and hard-nosed ‘fighters’ in Jorge Garbajosa (next season at Toronto), Felipe Reyes (Real Madrid) and Caslos Jimenez (Estudiantes Madrid). Pau’s younger brother, Marc Gasol, who stands seven feet tall is also available.
Spain’s scoring prowess comes through their individual talents. A bad game from a couple of the top offensive options would be possibly detrimental for Spain.
Argentina, on the other hand, tend to find success based on teamwork. The team is undoubtedly led by superstar Manu Ginobili who plays for the San Antonio Spurs (played before in Italy with Reggio, where I had the opportunity to referee him, and Bologna).
In a country where soccer historically rules, basketball in Argentina is quickly becoming part of its national pride.
Beside Ginobili, three other players on the Argentina’s national team spent last season in the NBA. The first to be mentioned is tough defender and good perimeter shooter Andreas Nocioni who plays for the Chicago Bulls. Then there is Carlos Delfino (also had the pleasure to referee him when in Italy) who plays for Detroit Pistons and Fabricio Oberto who played for the San Antonio Spurs.
In recent years, national team members Ruben Wolkowyski and Juan Sanchez have also played in the NBA. Wolkowyski played for Seattle, Dallas and Boston while Sanchez competed for Atlanta, Philadelphia and Detroit.
One also has to mention forward Luis Scola, whose draft rights are owned by the Spurs. Last year he was considered one of the best forwards in the Euroleague. Given his considerable skills, Scola is surely expected to one day play in the NBA.
Argentians were put as second favourites to win the world cup, behind the USA, but statistically, the Spaniards have won five of their last six meetings against Argentina.
Greece face a tough hurdle when they face USA in the second semi-final. The Greeks had a wonderful 2005 when they won the European Championship beating Germany 78-62 in the final. They also had finished fifth in Athens 2004.
They only have one NBA player in Vassilis Spanoulis who, this summer, signed with Houston Rockets. Antonios Fotsis has some NBA experience as he played with Memphis Grizzlies in 2002. There is also Sofoklis Schortsanitis, who was the 34th overall pick by the L.A. Clippers in the 2003 NBA Draft. Unfortunately the Greeks lost FIBA Europe 2005 young Player of the year, Nikos Zisis through injury a week ago.
The European champions have to work hard, as they always do, in defence (led by Euroleague top defender Dimitrios Diamantidis) if they are to surprise the Americans. The latter beat Germany 85-65 in the quarter-finals but struggled immensely in the first half when facing a zone defence.
Similar to what happened against Italy, it was Carmelo Anthony who rescued the USA with his good outside shooting. Once in the lead, the Americans never looked back and controlled the game tempo. With stars like Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Lebron James, the US team can guarantee a spectacle (most points per game with 106) but are also under the watchful eye of an experienced coaching staff.
Lazaros Papadopoulos and Antonios Fotsis scored 14 points respectively as Greece advanced to the semi-finals of the World Championship with a 73-56 victory over France. In the match before, they beat China 95-64 and managed to limit the championship’s leading scorer, Yao Ming, to just ten points. The Chinese also managed to score just six points during the third period.
Will the USA team be stopped or will they win the championships as was predicted? It is difficult to say as on the day, the gap between the NBA and the international game has somewhat diminished substantially.
I have no favourites but I am sure that the team that will win the world cup will be that team that will have the best correlation between its guards and the coach. If these two elements are in harmony, then success could be forthcoming.
New FIBA president
Bob Elphinston (photo) has been elected new FIBA President for the 2006 - 2010 term of office. The election took place this week during the FIBA World Congress in Tokyo where the assembly of the 212 national federations of FIBA took place.
The 64-year old from Australia, was excited about this new challenge: “I am enormously proud to be elected as President of FIBA. Basketball is at an exciting level as the second most played team sport in the world today behind football and my role as President gives me the chance to directly assist a great sport grow even more.” Elphinston said.
Bob Elphinston is recognised as one of the most respected sports administrators in the world, with a long involvement in Basketball since 1961 and international sport since 1991.