Day 9, Classification Games, Saturday - Sep 7, 2002
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Eurobasket Places 11-12: Angola - China 96-84 Angola: Gomes 17, E.Victoriano
17, Almeida 16, Lutonda 13, A.Victoriano 11, Muzadi 8, Monteiro 5,
Mingas 4, Carvalho 3, Costa 2, China: Yao Ming 27, Liu Yudong
15, Li Nan 12, Gong Xiaobin 9, Hu Weidong 9, Chen Ke 5, Guo Shioiang
2, Liu Wei 2, Zhang Cheng 2, Meng Bateer 1, Zhu Fangyu
All stats
The heart and hustle of Angola overcame the height and hype of China
in Saturday morning's battle for 11th place in the World Basketball
Championship.
Even though China's roster lists seven athletes with equal or more
height than Angola's tallest player, center Joaquin Gomes (6 feet, 7
inches or 2.02 meters), Angola outrebounded China 34-30 on the way to
a 96-84 victory.
Angola earned 10 offensive rebounds to China's eight. Angola matched
China's inside scoring as both teams earned 32 points.
Angola was on fire from 3-point range by hitting 13-of-29 (44.8
percent), while China struggled from behind the arc with 7-of-28 (25.0
percent).
Angola, participating in the World Basketball Championship for the
fourth time overall, earned the best finish for the country and the
continent. Angola's previous best finish was 13th in 1990.
"Today, the national team of Angola made history," said guard Carlos
Almeida, who scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds. "Today we
were able to achieve No. 11 in the tournament. We leave here very,
very happy. All these results didn't happen by chance. We worked very,
very hard for the last two months."
Angola coach Mario Palma said Angola's defense, conditioning and early
scoring were factors in the win. The defense caused 12 Chinese
turnovers.
"Our defense killed Yao Ming (China's 7-5 center) in the second half,"
Palma said. "We are much quicker than China," Palma said. "I think the
Chinese team is tired. We are in much better physical condition."
Five Angolans scored in double figures. They were guard Walter Costa
(11 points), forward Edmar Victoriano (17 points, eight rebounds),
Gomes (17 points, seven rebounds), guard Carlos Almeida (16 points,
five rebounds) and guard Miguel Lutonda (13 points, five rebounds).
Yao Ming, who will play for the NBA's Houston Rockets in the upcoming
season, led China with 27 points and 15 rebounds, including 10
offensive. He scored 13 points in the second period.
Teammates in double figures were forward Li Nan (12 points) and Liu
Yudong (15 points). Forward Gong Xiabin and guard Hu Weidong each
contributed nine points.
Menke Batere, a 6-11 center, added just one point and two rebounds in
12 minutes. Batere and Ming were never in the game together until 3:50
remained in the third quarter.
Even when China installed the "Walking Great Wall" at that point, the
team could not come back from a 66-56 deficit.
Chinese coach Wang Fei said the 8:30 a.m. tipoff was no excuse,
because it affected both teams.
"We didn't play well," he said. "All things we can train them to do,
but the only thing we cannot do is mental toughness. The reason for
Angola to win is because they played harder."
By FIBA (Dan Habing). For more details check
www.fiba.com
Places 9-10: Turkey - Russia 91-86 Turkey: Hakan Koseoglu, Ibrahim
Kutluay 20, Helmet Okur 15, Huseyin Besok 5, Hidayet Turkoglu 11;
Mirsad Turkcan 18, Haluk Yildirim 8, Omer Onan, Harun Erdenay 12, Asim
Pars, Kaya Peker 2 Russia: Vassili Karassev 11,
Zakhar Pachoutine 22, Alexei Savrasenko 10, Nikita Morgunov 4, Rouslan
Avleev 6; Serguei Panov 14, Evgueny Pachoutine 5, Alexandre Bachminov
7, Serguei Tchikalkine 5, Victor Khriapa 2
All stats
When Ibrahim Kutluay was whistled for his fifth foul with 7:56
remaining in the game, it could have doomed Turkey's improbable rally.
Kutluay, who scored six of Turkey's first nine fourth-quarter points,
had been the heart and soul of a Turkey comeback that erased a
16-point Russian lead and had the Turks within a single basket at
73-71.
But Turkey continued the charge that Kutluay began, outscoring Russia
29-15 in the fourth quarter to post a 91-86 victory and claim ninth
place in the 2002 World Basketball Championship (WBC). The result
comes in Turkey's first-ever WBC.
"I liked coming from behind because the Turkish team showed
something," said Turkey forward Mirsad Turkcan. "We showed something
because we were down by 16 points and we came back."
Kutluay led five Turkey players in double figures with 20 points on
5-of-11 shooting (8-8 from the free throw line). Turkcan (18), Mehmet
Okur (15), Harun Erdenay (12) and Hidayet Turkoglu (11) were the four
other Turkey players netting double digits.
Turkcan added a tournament-high 20 rebounds and went seven of eight
from the free throw line. The outcome could be attributed to the line
where Turkey went 36 of 42 (86 percent) compared to Russia's 10 of 14
performance (71 percent). Seven of Turkoglu's 11 points came by way of
free throws as he overcame 2-of-16 shooting from the field.
Zakhar Pachoutine led Russia in scoring with 22 points. Trying to make
up for the absence of star forward Andrei Kirilenko—out with a
left ankle injury—10 players each played at least 12 minutes and
five scored in double figures. Russia was able to outscore Turkey
46-30 in the paint and 22-4 on the fast break.
With 2:38 remaining in the third quarter, Russia had a 16-point lead;
Russia would not score the rest of the period. On two Turkcan free
throws that capped a 24-7 run, Turkey took a 79-78 lead with 5:30
remaining—its first lead since 31 seconds into the game. With
the game tied at 83 with 2:47 remaining, Turkey went on an 8-0 run
over the next 2:36 to put the game out of reach.
By FIBA (John Dedman). Fro more details check
www.fiba.com
Places 7-8: Puerto Rico - Brazil 91-84
Puerto Rico: Ayuso 16, Arroyo 8, Hourruitimer 8, Ortiz
10, Santiago 19; Latimer 5, Allende 2, Mincy 5, Richard Dalmau 18,
Apodaca Brazil: García 12, Ferraciu 13,
Klafke 6, Anderson Varejao 13, Sandro Varejao 13; Araujo 4, Giovannoni
19, Splitter 1, Filho 3
All stats
Two Latin American teams were fightining for 7th place at WC. Also
this time Puerto Rico occured to be better team, as they come home
with 7th position.
Places 5-6: Spain - USA 81-75 Spain:Juan
Carlos Navarro (193-G-80, agent: Vidicki Dejan) 26, F.Reyes 12 USA: LaFrentz 13, Wallace 12
All stats
USA team lost 5th position game to Spain. Americans lost 3 games in
last 4 days, being beaten by Argentina, Yugoslavia and now Spain. Nice
lesson, but that's a real position, which USA team should be located,
considering their performance this week...
SEMIFINALS
Argentina - Germany 86-80 Argentina: Juan Ignacio Sánchez
3, Emanuel Ginóbili 9, Rubén Wolkowysky 4, Fabricio Oberto 16, Hugo
Sconochini 18; Luis Scola 7, Andrés Noccioni 7, Leandro Palladino 9,
Alejandro Montecchia 10, Gabriel Fernández 3, Lucas Victoriano,
Leonardo Gutierrez Germany: Okulaja 18, Mithat
Demirel 17, Patrick Femerling 3, Dirk Nowitzki 24, Stefano Marco
Garris; Marko Pesic 10, Stephen Arigbabu, Misan Nikagbatse, Henrik
Rodl 2, Jorg Lutcke 6
All stats
The gold medal of the World Basketball Championship is one victory
away for Argentina.
In beating Germany 86-80 in the semfinals on Saturday at Conseco
Fieldhouse, Argentina (8-0) overcame its largest obstacle of the
tournament - an injury to star guard Emanuel Ginobili that forced him
out of the game in the first half.
Ginobili, whose father was in the audience, left the game with 4:39
left in the half after he scored a 3-pointer to bring his team within
26-25. After his shot over a double team, he fell to the sideline,
holding his knee. In obvious pain, he was carried to the bench. He had
contributed nine points and three rebounds but never returned.
His teammates stepped up, especially guard Alejandro Montecchia.
As Argentina led 80-78 with 45 seconds left, Montecchia rebounded a
missed layup by German guard Mithat Demirel. Montecchia dribbled out
of a triple team and passed from halfcourt to center Ruben Wolkowyski,
who stood alone under the basket for an easy shot.
Montecchia made a diving steal of the ensuing inbounds pass and was
fouled. He made both free throws for an 84-78 lead with 9.4 seconds
left.
After Ginobili left the game, Argentina went four minutes without a
field goal while Germany went on an 8-1 run on the way to a 41-36
halftime lead.
However, Argentina came back to break a 76-76 tie on a baseline shot
by Ruben Wolkowyski with 1:11 left. The lead was never relinquished.
"As coach, I think this has been the hardest game we have played,"
coach Ruben Magnano said. "I'm confident we won because of our big
heart rather than our wonderful tactical game. The Germans' game was
excellent. I think we had more luck than them."
Forward Hugo Sconochini led Argentina with 18 points. Other
double-figure scorers were center Fabricio Oberto (16 points) and
Montecchia (10 points).
Argentina earned 11 steals to Germany's one.
Germany had advantages in total rebounds (34-26) and offensive
rebounds (12-4).
However, Germany committed 17 turnovers to 10 for Argentina and shot
just 36 percent for the game.
German coach Henrik Dettmann said turnovers and straying from strategy
cost them the game.
"Basketball is about staying with the game strategy and making plays
in the end," Dettmann said. "We stayed with the strategy for about 36
minutes, taking away the inside game of Argentina. We gave up too many
points at the end. We got too excited about scoring baskets in the end
instead of stopping our opponents from scoring.
"It hurts to lose today, but against a team like (Argentina), it's
easier to accept," Dettmann added. "We had the chance to win this
game. We just couldn't finish it."
Dirk Nowitzki scored 24 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for
Germany, but was 8-of-26 from the field.
Ademola Okulaja scored 10 of his 18 points in the second quarter as
Germany overcame a 16-11 deficit after the first period to lead 41-36
at halftime.
Demirel finished with 17 points - a personal best for the tournament -
and a game-high five assists.
Argentina, the only undefeated team in the tournament advances to the
championship Yugoslavia (5-2) or New Zealand (4-3) at 3 p.m. Sunday at
Conseco Fieldhouse. The country's last medal was a gold in the very
first World Basketball Championship in 1950.
Germany will play the loser between the Yugoslavia and New Zealand for
the bronze medal at 12:30 p.m. Sunday. Germany had never placed higher
than 12th in previous tournaments.
By FIBA (Dan Habing). For more details check
www.fiba.com
Yugoslavia - New Zealand 89-78 Yugoslavia: Vujanic 6,
Stojakovic 10, Gurovic 11, Divac 13, Koturovic 18; Tomasevic 1, Jaric
16, Bodiroga 14, Cabarkapa, Drobnjak New Zealand: Dickel 4, Penney
24, Jones 17, Cameron 16, Book 10; Boucher 5, Hickey 2, Henare,
Rampton
All Stats
Yugoslavia dominated the second half to erase a nine-point halftime
deficit and post an 89-78 victory in World Basketball Championship
semifinal action at Conseco Fieldhouse. The win earned the defending
champions a trip back to the gold-medal against Argentina on Sunday at
3 p.m..
New Zealand, which again played without injured center Sean Marks,
will face Germany in the third-place game, also on Sunday.
Early on, New Zealand continued the strong play that made the team one
of the tournament's big surprises, leading 30-19 after one period,
34-20 early in the second and 48-39 at halftime as Pero Cameron and
guard Kirk Penney both turned in 13 points.
Meanwhile, Yugoslavia star Peja Stojakovic was struggling. He failed
to score in the first four minutes and had only seven points in the
opening half. Center Vlade Divac was mired with his Yugoslavian
national and NBA teammate in being ineffective at the offensive end.
Divac had only two first-half points.
Guard Marko Jaric kept Yugoslavia within the striking distance in the
first half. His 14 points -- including 4-for-4 shooting from
three-point range -- prevented Yugoslavia from being buried by New
Zealand's early hot shooting.
Yugoslavia's adjustments on defense rattled New Zealand early in the
third quarter. As New Zealand's shot selection and defense wavered,
Yugoslavia began to click on offense, being helped by hitting the
offensive boards and getting a wealth of second-chance opportunities.
New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin said after the game that he feared
Yugoslavia's turnaround and tried to make sure at halftime that his
team was prepared for it.
"We knew the job wasn't done at halftime, but, unfortunately, there
wasn't much we could do because Yugoslavia played a great second
half," Baldwin said. "They made adjustments because they figured out a
couple of our schemes and shut off what we had been doing on offense.
At that point, our offense just kind of stalled and that fed their
momentum. Once they got rolling it was their day, but they're a great
team and they deserve their place in this tournament."
Cameron agreed.
"We're disappointed, especially in our second half," he said. "They
definitely dominated us in the paint and on the boards in that second
half and they just walked all over us. They're big, strong and tough."
Yugoslavia outscored New Zealand 40-18 in the paint and scored 17 on
second-chance opportunities in the second half.
Yugoslavia coach Svetislav Pesic said his team's adjustments weren't
the only reason it played much better in the second half.
"At the beginning, I don't think we thought we could lose, and maybe
that's why we didn't play good defense in the first quarter," he said.
"We picked up the game enough in the third quarter."
Much of the turnaround was because Divac came to life in the second
half and forwards Dejan Koturovic, Milan Gurovic and Dejan Bodiroga
joined him in picking up for Stojakovic's off night and Jaric's
second-half scoring drought. Divac's driving bucket at the 5:24 mark
pulled Yugoslavia to within four points at 56-52. Bodiroga then scored
the first of his four quick baskets and Yugoslavia forced New Zealand
into a 24-second shot clock violation.
New Zealand coach Tab Baldwin called timeout to try to stop the
comeback, but Yugoslavia guard Milos Vujanic hit a three-pointer near
the midway point of the third stanza to put his team up by one point,
its first lead since the opening minutes of the game. Seconds later,
Vujanic hit another trey to put Yugoslavia up 60-58 and Yugoslavia
never looked back.
Book picked up his fourth foul with 2:25 to go in the third quarter,
when Divac grabbed yet another offensive rebound. Divac hit his first
two free throws of the game. Cameron missed a hastily taken
three-pointer and Bodiroga drove to the basket to score and give
Yugoslavia a 66-58 advantage at the buzzer.
Penney's first points of the second half came on a three-pointer at
the 5:50 mark in the fourth quarter and pulled New Zealand to within
six, 69-63. But Yugoslavia answered when Divac scored and drew Book's
fifth foul. Book left without scoring in the second half. Divac sank
the free throw to put Yugoslavia up by double digits, 73-63.
Then, the game got away from New Zealand for good. Divac alley-ooped a
pass to Koturovic for a slam dunk to stretch Yugoslavia's advantage to
12 points and electrify an already loud and rowdy Yugoslavian crowd.
Penney was fouled on a three-point attempt with just over two minutes
to go and hit all three free throws to get New Zealand back to within
10 at 81-71. But Yugoslavia turned to Koturovic again, who scored
again on a transition bucket and was fouled by New Zealand guard
Dillon Boucher.
By FIBA (Troy Guthrie). For more details check
www.fiba.com
It’s a measure of how far the Burger King Tall Blacks have come that
they could not feel satisfied with a performance the basketball world
would have thought beyond them just two months ago.
In the world championship semifinals, the plucky Kiwis held a 48-39
advantage over titleholders Yugoslavia and at one point led by 14
points, yet withered before a second-half onslaught that left them
78-89 losers at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
And despite the apparent hysteria over their performance back home in
a non-basketball nation, that’s exactly what the players felt like in
the locker room afterwards.
Losers.
"This is a big loss for us," said coach Tab Baldwin. "It really hurts.
"We certainly feel we had the right mix and formula to get a win
today.
"We know back home, our country is extremely proud of us. We probably
won’t fully understand that until we’re back in their arms and they
can make us feel like winners again, because right now we feel like
losers."
Maybe they need to feel that way with a bronze medal still to play for
against archrivals Germany tomorrow.
The Yugoslavs had had a listless buildup for the championships,
counting among their losses a defeat at the hands of the Tall Blacks
in Braunschweig last month. On that occasion, they were without
perhaps their most experienced player, NBA veteran Vlade Divac.
Even in Indy, they had not started convincingly, losing to Spain in
pool play and Puerto Rico in the second round. Their prospects really
lifted with a dramatic win over the US Dream Team in the
quarterfinals, in which Divac hit his straps with 16 points and 11
rebounds.
If the Yugoslavs thought they had seen the last of Americans in this
tournament, Tall Black centre Ed Book reminded them there was still
one around that could hurt them, scoring his team’s first eight points
and 10 (including two treys) for the first quarter to put them up
early.
His contribution was not limited to offence though, as he got across
to block a layup attempt from counterpart Divac.
Yugoslav coach Svetislav Pesic went to his bench early, but couldn’t
seem to find answer to the Kiwi onslaught, which extended out to 20-9
midway through the period.
Just as the Slavs were making a run, Kirk Penney came to the party at
the end of the quarter with two long-range daggers, the second a
miraculous effort where he slipped, lost possession, regained it and
scrambled up a successful shot.
Leading 30-19 at the break, they continued the roll into the second
quarter, building a 14-point lead before Slav point guard Marko Jaric
sparked another run, hitting three baskets from the perimeter among
his 11 points for the period.
Jaric had begun the match on the bench, a position belying his status
as an NBA lottery pick by the Los Angeles Clippers and an indication
of the talent on this roster. He got the champs within seven points
(36-43) and helped them to a 20-18 advantage for the quarter.
Tall Black skipper Pero Cameron had continued to embarrass players
with bigger reputations (and bigger pay cheques) for 13 points in the
first half and he had his team still in control 48-39 at the
turnaround.
But as the second half began, the Slavs tightened the screws on the
Kiwi offence until it was virtually a one-man band, with Cameron
firing from long distance. A pair of treys from Phill Jones and
Cameron had them out to 56-47, but Divac initiated a 19-2 run that
finally carried Yugoslavia clear.
"We knew the job wasn’t done in the first half," said Baldwin.
"Yugoslavia played tremendous second-half defence and stuck it to us.
"They formulated a couple of schemes to take away opportunities and we
stalled offensively."
Another department New Zealand was quickly falling well behind in was
rebounding, where they were often guilty of not boxing out to keep
their opponents off the offensive boards. The Slavs gathered seven ORs
in the third quarter, resulting in nine second-chance points.
They would eventually outscore the Kiwis 40-18 in the paint and 17-0
in second-chance points.
"They definitely dominated the paint, the offensive boards …
everything," said Cameron. "They were all over us.
"They are big, strong, tough."
Trailing 58-66 with 10 minutes to play, the Kiwis would have to come
from behind (again!) if the miracle was to continue. For that to
happen, they would have to a) somehow stop their rivals scoring so
freely inside and b) find some open shots for their outside shooters
to start a rally.
Neither eventuated.
Penney hit two more threes and Dillon Boucher chipped in for another
to keep the Tall Blacks within 10 points most of the final quarter.
Penney had 11 in the fourth period to total 24 for the game, leading
all scorers.
Jones finished with 17 points, right on his tournament average, and
Cameron had 16.
But the heartbreaker in the that last quarter was forward Dejan
Koturovic, who found room inside (and made some of his own) for 18
total points, 10 in the period.
Yaric finished 16 points before fouling out, while Dejan Bodiroga
totaled 14.
The Slavs go on to play Argentina, the other team to defeat the United
States earlier this week, who defeated Germany 86-80, despite losing
star player Emanuel Ginobili with a severely sprained ankle.
"For me, I am just disappointed," said Cameron. "We are all
disappointed.
"It’s gone for us. It’s hard to concentrate on the next game when you
lose. When you win, you tend to focus on the next game.
"When you lose … it’s not a good feeling."
Somehow, the Tall Blacks must raise themselves from the
disappointment, because a bronze medal is still up for grabs.
The Germans have already beaten them twice in the past month, but the
winner tomorrow may be the team who can put the past behind them
quicker.
by Grant Chapman
