MANILA, Philippines - The US will play Serbia for the gold medal in the final of the FIBA World Cup in Madrid tonight (tomorrow morning, Manila) and the only way the Americans won’t hit paydirt is if they don’t show up at the 13,700-seat Palacio de los Deportes de la Comunidad.
History will be made whether or not the US wins. If the Americans capture the crown, it will be their first back-to-back FIBA world championships and fifth overall since 1950. If Serbia prevails, it will be the former Yugoslavian state’s first gold medal on the global stage as an independent nation. Yugoslavia topped the FIBA tournament in 1970, 1978 and 1990 as a socialist federal republic. In 1991, several states split from Yugoslavia and Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Macedonia became separate republics. But Yugoslavia continued to compete in FIBA as Serbia and Montenegro from 1992 to 2006, winning world titles in 1998 and 2002.
In 2006, Serbia struck out on its own and has since not won a medal at the FIBA Worlds. In 2010, Serbia took fourth place in Turkey with a 6-3 overall record, losing to Turkey, 83-82, in the semifinals and to Lithuania, 99-88, in the battle for the bronze medal. Serbia’s only other loss was to Germany, 82-81, in double overtime in the group phase. Serbia’s wins came at the expense of Angola, 94-44, Jordan, 112-69, Australia, 94-79, Argentina, 84-82, Croatia, 73-72 and Spain, 92-89.
Only four players from the 2010 squad were retained for this year’s World Cup – 6-5 Milos Teodosic, 6-10 Nemanja Bjelica, 7-0 Nenad Krstic and 6-6 Stefan Markovic. Coach Sasha Djordjevic, a Serbian basketball legend, brought in 6-6 Bogdan Bogdanovic and 7-0 Miroslav Raduljica as reinforcements.
Four Serbians are averaging in double figures – Teodosic 14.0, Raduljica 13.5, Bogdanovic 11.6 and Bjelica 11.1. As a team, Serbia is hitting 50.1 percent from the floor, including 39.9 percent from three-point range. Teodosic, 27, and Bogdanovic, 22, are shooting a combined 45 percent from beyond the arc. Serbia’s average height is 6-8 and average age is 26 compared to the US’ 6-7 and 24.
Three Serbians were picked in the NBA draft – Bogdanovic by Phoenix on the first round this year (he’ll play in Turkey instead), Krstic by New Jersey on the first round in 2002 (he has played for New Jersey, Oklahoma City and Boston in seven seasons) and Bjelica by Washington on the second round in 2010. Krstic and Raduljica are the only NBA veterans. Raduljica was never drafted but played for Milwaukee last season, averaging 3.8 points in 48 games.
Serbia had the most unlikely surge to the finals and finished fourth in Group A behind Spain, Brazil and France. In the preliminaries, Serbia bowed to France, 74-73, Brazil, 81-73 and Spain, 89-73. In the Round-of-16, Serbia took on undefeated Group B topnotcher Greece and won, 90-72. Then, Serbia exacted sweet revenge on Brazil, 84-56 in the quarterfinals and France, 90-85, in the semifinals. France was led by Nicolas Batum’s 35 points but couldn’t hold back Teodosic and company.
Serbia has gone from ninth place in 2006 to fourth in 2010 and will now finish either first or second in Madrid.
As for the US, the Americans are the only unbeaten team at the World Cup, bowling over challengers like pins in an alley. First to fall was Finland, 114-55, then it was Turkey, 98-77, New Zealand, 98-71, Dominican Republic, 106-71, Ukraine, 85-71, Mexico, 86-63, Slovenia, 119-76 and Lithuania, 96-68. The US’ largest margin of victory was 59 and the gap has not been less than 21. Coach Mike Krzyzewski isn’t taking any team lightly and has ordered his troops to leave no prisoners.
Every single player in the US lineup was a first round draft pick and three were first overall picks – Derrick Rose in 2008, Kyrie Irving in 2011 and Anthony Davis in 2012. Coach K’s cast is young with Rudy Gay the oldest at 28. The players are stars in their own right in the NBA but they don’t stroll in the same stratosphere as Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James. They’re stars who don’t play like stars. Coach K uses them as role players, each contributing to a common goal. It’s no surprise that in Coach K’s equal opportunity system, six players are averaging in double figure points for the US – Harden 13.0, Davis 13.0, Klay Thompson 12.8, Kenneth Faried 12.5, Steph Curry 10.8 and Irving 10.4.
When the US won the gold in 2010, the team had Rose, Gay and Curry who were held over for Spain. At the 2012 London Olympics, only James Harden and Davis stayed with the national squad. Bryant, Durant, James, Kevin Love, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony declined to join the pool this year to rest their aching bodies from the last NBA season.
Serbia’ ascent to the final is a shocker particularly as the team lost three of its first five games. This year’s World Cup has unravelled one upset after another. Nobody would’ve imagined Senegal to beat Croatia and Puerto Rico in Group B particularly as the African nation had never won in the World Cup before. Nobody would’ve imagined all four Group B qualifiers – Greece, Croatia, Argentina and Senegal – to get the boot in the Round-of-16. Nobody would’ve imagined the Philippines to fall one possession short of beating Croatia, Argentina and Puerto Rico. Nobody would’ve imagined host Spain to lose to France, 65-52, in the quarterfinals after crushing Boris Diaw and basketball’s Les Bleus, 88-64, in the preliminaries. The only remaining shocker would be for Serbia to beat the US for the championship but that’s not in the realm of the possible in Coach K’s book.