Day 6, Preliminary Round Two, Wednesday, Sep.4, 2002
Group F
Argentina - USA 87-80 Argentina: Ginobili 15, Noccioni 14, Scola 13,
Oberto 11
USA: Pierce 22, Finley 14, A.Miller 11
All stats
Great victory of Argentine team, which defeated
favorite host team 87-80. Argentina showed very team and organized
basketball. So finally a team combined of NBA stars lost a game. It's
no more a DREAM TEAM. It's just USA National Team. So Aemricans should
stop dreaming any more and just look what happened last yeasr in
basketball around the world.
It was the first defeat of USA team combined by NBA players in 59
games. So that time is definitely over. It was already many times,
when U.S. etam was "on the edge" of defeat. Just look at last Olympic
Games, where mericans could say about the kind of good luck. But this
time the luck was not with them.
It will be billed as the greatest upset in basketball history, and
that is surely a fact. What is equally true, and perhaps even more
telling, is that the game reflected a truth pure and simple no matter
what the sport or the country: good teams can beat great individuals.
Argentina, a national that has trained together more than a year,
soundly defeated the United States, a collection of NBA players that
has been together roughly a month, 87-80 in the second round of the
World Basketball Championship on Wednesday night in Conseco
Fieldhouse.
It was the first loss for the U.S. after 58 consecutive victories in
international competition with an NBA-stocked roster.
"Me, myself, personally, I'm embarrassed to be on the team that took
the first loss," said Paul Pierce, who scored 22 points but was not an
offensive force. "We could go on to win the gold medal, but we'll
still be that team."
There was nothing flukish or suspect about the outcome. Argentina
completely outplayed the U.S. in every way, with more efficient
offensive execution, superior shot-making and more aggressive defense.
The U.S. never led and trailed by as many as 20 points.
"The team had conviction to not lose the battle before starting," said
Ruben Magnano, Argentina's head coach. "We knew how difficult the game
was going to be but we also knew it was not impossible. The conviction
of the team, the spirit to thrive, was above anything technical or
tactical and that is what allowed us to win."
Baron Davis of the USA guards Alejandro Montecchia (ARG)
Argentina shot 50 percent, had 23 assists and committed just 12
turnovers to defeat a U.S. defensive strategy built on wearing
opponents down with relentless ball pressure. Emanuel Ginobili, bound
for the San Antonio Spurs in the 2002-03 season, scored 15 points to
lead a balanced offense. Andres Noccioni scored 14, Louis Scola 13 and
Fabricio Oberto 11 with nine rebounds. Though the U.S. is supposed to
have superior depth, Argentina enjoyed a 36-22 advantage in bench
scoring.
The U.S. shot 38 percent overall and lost its composure, reflected in
28 attempts from the 3-point line (making just nine). Six of Pierce's
22 points came on heaved 3-pointers after the outcome was decided.
Michael Finley and Andre Miller each scored 14. The interior defense
was inept, surrendering repeated uncontested layups.
Gabriel Fernandez of Argentina (L) tries to block a shot by Andre
Miller (R) of the USA
"The only weakness they have is they do not know each other," said
Ginobili. "They had no team defense. ... There is not a bond like us.
We know each other. We know where picks will be, when to cut for a
pass. Apparently, the United States did not."
The American team's tendency to sleepwalk through the first half
proved costly. Argentina built a 15-point lead in the first quarter
and stretched it to 53-37 at the break. There would be no second-half
explosion from the U.S., as had been the case in the previous four
victories.
"We lost our composure against their intensity," said coach George
Karl. "They played very hard in the first half. Our lack of urgency
has been a problem in other games and tonight it really hurt us."
The U.S. appeared to be gaining momentum when both Scola and Noccioni
picked up their fourth fouls while the lead was pared to 64-58. It was
70-63 early in the fourth after a Reggie Miller 3-pointer ignited the
Indiana crowd, but Argentina responded with six consecutive points,
all on layups or drives, from Oberto, Ginobili and Hugo Schonochini,
and there would be no further serious challenge as the U.S. offense
devolved into a panic of 3-point shots.
"My team and my country will be challenged by this," said Karl. "It
will be interesting to see how we respond."
by FIBA (Conrad Brunner). Check for more details at
www.fiba.com
New Zealand 94 - China 88 New Zealand (13+30+20+31): Jones 33 - 6/8 3FG,
Penney 19, Cameron 12, Book 11, Hickey 9, Dickel 6, Henare 2, Boucher
2 China (35+17+19+17): Li 33 - 8/12 3FG, Yao 27
- 8/8 FG & 11/11 FT + 7 rbs, Hu 8, Guo 7, Chen 5, Menke 4, Du 4
All stats
Yao Ming had a perfect game with 27 pts (8/8 FG & 11/11 FT) and China
had a close to perfect 1st Q (13-35), but the Kiwi's made a huge come
back slowly. Ming's helper during most of the game was Nan Li who at
some point had 7/8 from 3 point land, and finished the game with 33
pts and 8/12 from behind the arc. New Zealand forced 21 turnovers by
China and slowly took control over the game. 7:27 minutes to go Nan Li
scored a...3 point shot to pull a 70-81 lead for the Asians champs.
4:52 minutes passed till the next points by China, and by then New
Zealand finished their 17-0 run and scoreboard showed 87-81. Ming was
able to make it a 2 pts game with less than a minute to go (90-88) but
New Zealand scored the last 4 points in the game and qualified to the
QF.
Tab Baldwin had had enough.
He told his guys straight – we either make this part of our strategy
or we stop doing this.
Now you know why coaches have trouble keeping their hair.
Yet again, the Burger King Tall Blacks had spotted a 20-point start to
a higher ranked opponent (in the first quarter, for goodness sakes)
and staged a miraculous comeback to win another biggest game in New
Zealand basketball history.
Just how many is that now?
With their 94-88 victory over China at the Conseco Fieldhouse, they
had qualified for the world championship quarterfinals and an
appointment with South American upstarts Puerto Rico in the top-eight
playoffs.
Yet another "biggest game" looms.
"This just highlights the fact that this New Zealand team is full of
heart, full of character and full of toughness," said Baldwin. "It’s
got some talent, because you don’t get this far without it, but what
makes it special is that unbelievable desire to succeed.
"It’s a joy to coach."
New Zealand went into the game having already faced their rivals this
year during a tour of China in May/June. That trip gave Baldwin a good
look at the Great Wall – both the historic bricks-and-mortar version
and the flesh-and-bone variety – and a fair idea of how of how to
combat NBA giants Yao Ming and Menke Batere.
He wanted his players to take a very physical approach to the Asians,
whom he figured would not respond well to confrontation.
But the Tall Blacks came out very flat and were punished, not only by
Yao inside, but also from 6/7 perimeter shooting. Chinese marksmen Li
Nan dropped four treys during the first quarter and was ably assisted
by Hu Weidong and Guo Shioiang as they quickly ran up a massive lead.
Behind 13-35 after one period, the Kiwis had gone scoreless (0/5)
themselves from long distance, usually their bread and butter, and 26%
FG.
"We didn’t now what to expect from China because their chances in this
tournament were slim," said Baldwin. "But they came out of the blocks,
playing very intelligently and obviously caught us with some things we
weren’t ready for."
Li and Hu continued to bring the heat in the second quarter, but they
were answered by Phill Jones, who had entered the game shooting only
7/28 (28%) 3pt and averaging 13.4 points for the tournament. He
stepped up to hit five threes in the second quarter and haul his team
back in contention.
The Chinese sat Yao for the entire period, leaving heavyweight
contenders Batere and Tall Black captain Pero Cameron to pound each
other in the post. Batere probably had the edge in that he outscored
his opponent (4-2), but more importantly had him in foul trouble by
the end of the half.
New Zealand had slashed the deficit to 43-52 by the break, but were
unable to start Cameron for the second half with his three fouls and
had to seat Jones with his third soon afterwards. In his skipper’s
absence, Rob Hickey did sterling work on Yao, knocking him to the
floor on one occasion and standing over him in a show of defiance.
Then, he too incurred his third foul and had to sit.
"Rob hasn’t played a lot in this tournament," said Baldwin. "He
stepped up, played big minutes and made big plays.
"We needed him to do that."
Kirk Penney came to the party in the third quarter and had the Tall
Blacks back to within two points (52-54) early, but as the foul count
mounted, China seemed to slip away again. Li was still hitting from
afar and Yao, despite the latitude the referees were allowing his
markers, was slowly grinding them down.
Yao had played the entire third quarter and fell into his own problems
with the law. He was issued a technical foul for protesting a
travelling call and then gifted the Kiwis three free throws (which
were converted) in the fourth quarter when he bought Cameron’s fake
from the top of the key.
"It is useless to make any comments on referees," said Chinese coach
Wang Fei.
From the moment the big man sat down with his fourth foul, the
complexion of the contest changed for good. Baldwin slapped on a press
that had the Chinese in fits and the Kiwis went on a 17-0 run that
included key play after key play.
A 24-second violation, a couple of steals in midcourt … it all starts
with defence. How many times has Baldwin said that now?
"Obviously that press caused a lot of problems for the Chinese," he
said. "We didn’t have any choice because it was a crisis situation for
us.
"We didn’t do it earlier because the press takes a lot of energy and
we felt we could cut into the lead slowly, get back into it, then try
and win it from there. With six minutes to go, we needed to turn up
the pressure and it worked.
"It could have gone badly the other way and China would have won
easily."
Jones had finished his work from the arc, but still scored 13 of his
33 points (6/8 3pt) in the final quarter. But it was hard to go past
Cameron for his clutch performance in those final moments.
He faked Yao into that fourth no-no and hit all three freebies to get
the ball rolling, captured the lead for good with an offensive putback
(his only rebound of the game) and drew a big charging foul (by this
stage, everything was big).
Then, the backbreaker. After Li hit a pair of treys to get his team
within two (85-87), Cameron converted a key three-pointer (again, his
only one of the game) to put victory out of reach for China.
He had only 12 points, shot just 3/11 FG and 1/6 3pt, and grabbed just
that one board … but his coolness in the clutch and those 5/5 FT were
pure gold.
Li finished 33 points (8/12 3pt), Yao Ming had a perfect shooting
night (8/8 FG, 11/11 FT) for his 27 points, but no other Chinese
player achieved double-figure scoring.
"Ming had a great game," said Baldwin. "He’s had a few games like that
in the past.
"But he worked for every point. It didn’t come easy for him."
As a team, China shot superbly – 58.5% FG, 48% 3pt and 93.3% FT – and
still lost.
The big stats for New Zealand were the hustle ones. They forced 21
turnovers, stole the ball 12 times and amazingly out-rebounded their
taller rivals 16-4 on the offensive boards.
"We protected the ball pretty well, we worked hard on defence to cause
turnovers and converted the steals into easy layups," said Baldwin.
"The offensive rebounds gave us extra chances to score. We weren’t the
most efficient team out there, but we were the hardest working team."
Even after the final buzzer, there was still some work to be done … by
Germany. The Tall Blacks needed the Deutschlanders to beat Russia to
seal their quarterfinal spot and there was some speculation they might
let that game slip in an effort to preserve a European spot at future
tournaments.
Thankfully, the Germans did the honourable thing and played to win,
duly doing so 103-85.
Now the Tall Blacks face Puerto Rico, who seem to be waning after a
strong start to the tournament. They struggled to beat Angola 89-87 in
double overtime and may be feeling the affects of that bruiser by the
time they take the court against the Kiwis.
by Grant Chapman
Germany - Russia 103-85 Germany (28+30+21+24): Demirel
(4), Garris (4), Okulaja (15), Nowitzki (17), Femerling (7); Arigbabu
(7), Pesic (4), Nikagbatse (17), Rodl (4), Roller (11), Lutcke (7) y
Maras (6). Russia (16+20+23+26): Karasev
(7), Zakhar Pashutin (28), Avleev (4), Morgunov (3), Savrasenko (6);
Evgueni Pashutin (1), Khriapa (6), Panov (8), Chikalkine (22),
Bashminov (-) y Kudelin (-).
Another blow for Russian team. But German team deserved the victory
controling the game since first minutes. Russian team tried to catch
up in second half, but that was already too late, as Germans kept safe
big distance.
Group E
Spain 84 - Brazil 67 Spain (21+9+15+22): Gasol 23 - 10/13 FG + 11
rbs, Garbajosa 12 + 7 rbs, Jimenez 12, Navarro 11 + 5 as, L. Angulo 6,
Rodríguez 6, A. Reyes 5, Marco 4, Paraiso 3, Calderon 2 Brazil (23+16+21+24): Machado 25 - 3/9 3FG,
Giovannoni 9, Klafke 6, Varejao 6, Mazzuchini 6, Garcia 6, Varejão 4,
Ferraciú 2, Filho 2, Splitter 1
All stats
Spain controlled the boards with a 44-18 advantage in
the rebounds. Brazil could have finish 1st with a win, but Marchado
was the only player to score more than 9 pts, and against Spain that
wasn't enough. 2nd lose to Brazil who can end up 4th and face USA in
the QF.
Yugoslavia 110 - Turkey 78 Yugoslavia (21+29+30+30): Gurovic 16 - 6/8 FG,
Stojakovic 16, Bodiroga 12 + 7 as, Koturovic 12, Rakocevic 10,
Tomasevic 10, Jaric 8, Vujanic 7, Divac 6, Radmanovic 5, Drobnjak 4,
Cabarkapa 4 Turkey (15+19+21+23): Okur 21 + 9 rbs,
Türkoglu 20, Kutluay 13, Türkcan 12 + 11 rbs, Onan 5, Erdenay 3,
Köseoglu 2, Tunçeri 2
All stats
Both teams knew before the game started that the winner
will qualify to the QF and the loser will go to the 9-12 games.
Yugoslavia made a small run at the end of the first Q and the another
one in the 2nd Q to take a 50-34 lead at half time. Turkey didn't have
the character to come back to the game. They didn't even came close to
it. Yugoslavia, with Gurovic and Stojakovic, ruled the game and scored
60 points in the 2nd half. If any of you remember a team coached by
Aydin Ors ever get 60 points in 20 minutes, or 110 pts in one game,
you are asked to refresh our memory.
Puerto Rico - Angola 89-87, 2OT At least for the preliminary rounds of the
World Basketball Championship, the best game was saved for last.
With first-place in Group E on the line, Puerto Rico (5-1) survived an
89-87 double overtime scare from last place Angola (1-5) at the RCA
Dome Wednesday night.
Puerto Rico's Jose Ortiz hit a three-foot jumper with 0.9 seconds
remaining to preserve the win. With the victory, Puerto Rico will be
the top-seed from Group E going into Thursday's quarterfinals. Puerto
Rico will face New Zealand at 8:00 p.m. CT at the RCA Dome Friday
night.
"We're ready to move onto to the big games," Puerto Rico coach Monolo
Cintron said. "The knew that this was the most important game for us,
and we needed this win going into the quarterfinals tomorrow."
Angola tied the game at 71 after Miguel Lutonda buried his second
three-pointer of the game with 50 seconds remaining to force the first
overtime.
In the two overtime periods, a three-point Puerto Rico lead on three
occasions was the largest margin. Lutonda scored seven of his 18
points in the second overtime. However, with the game tied at 85, he
badly missed a forced 18-foot jumper with 13 seconds remaining opening
the door Ortiz and Puerto Rico.
Ortiz led Puerto Rico with 25 points on 11-of-14 shooting. Carlos
Arroyo scored 20 points, while Elias Ayuso (12) and Raymond Dalmau
(10) also registered double-figures for Puerto Rico.
Angola had two other players in double figures. Carlos Almeida led the
team with 19 points, while Edmar Victoriano dropped in 10.
It took 35 minutes for Puerto Rico to grab its first lead of the game.
Puerto Rico made just two of its first 10 shots and quickly fell
behind by 10 in the first quarter and played catch up the rest of the
way. The lead reached 12 for Angola, but was trimmed to four at the
half.
Angola lived from the outside. Forty-five of Angola 78 field goal
attempts were from three-point range. Angola shot just 27 percent from
behind the arc hitting 11 of those attempts.
"It was a difficult game because the team from Puerto Rico was big and
forced us to the outside," Angola forward Edmar Victoriano said. "We
need bigger players. If we don't find bigger players, we'll lose every
game."
Puerto Rico's size also allowed them to get to the foul line more
often. Puerto Rico outscored Angola 26-11 from the line, while
attempting 19 more shots.
Angola will face Russia at 11:00 a.m. at Conseco Fieldhouse on Friday.
by FIBA (Greg Weitekamp). Check for more details at
www.fiba.com
