2014 World Cup

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POINTS: 26*
ASSISTS: 4
SHOOTING: 10/13 (77%)
MINUTES: 24

Led by 26 points from tournament MVP Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) and 23 points from James Harden (Houston Rockets), the USA (9-0) saved its best performance of the World Cup for the gold medal clash as the Americans captured a second-consecutive FIBA World Cup gold medal with a blistering 129-92 win over Serbia (5-4) at the Palacio de los Deportes de la Comunidad arena on Sunday night in Madrid, Spain.

The USA, which distanced itself from Serbia early in the game with a 28-6 run to close the first quarter, became just the third country in FIBA World Cup history to capture consecutive titles, and more crucial, the championship earned the USA an automatic bid into the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

The USA’s +33.0 points per game differential was the most of a U.S. men’s team in a FIBA World Cup or Olympic Games since the 1994 World Championship (+37.8).

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Finals: World Cup Recap (9/14)

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For a second consecutive game, a second-half run sealed a must-win contest for the USA (8-0) as it rallied behind a 33-14 third quarter scoring advantage to secure a 96-68 victory over Lithuania (6-2) in the semifinals of the 2014 FIBA World Cup on Thursday night at Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, Spain. The win earned the USA the right to play in the gold medal game on Sept. 14 in Madrid, where it will meet the winner of tomorrow’s semifinal between Serbia (4-3) and France (5-2). Lithuania will play the loser of that game for bronze.

“It’s always an honor to play against Lithuania, one of great basketball countries. We’ve had so many good games with them,” said USA coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke University).

“I thought Klay’s (Thompson) play in the first half was the biggest reason we were ahead at halftime. Then in the second half we were able to start fresh. We made a huge adjustment on the defense that helped a lot, and we didn’t give up threes; we stopped putting them on the line as much and we turned them over.  The outrebounding them and turning them over I thought was the difference.

“Kyrie (Irving) was special in this game, in that third quarter he kind of got us moving and everybody started moving with him. We feel very fortunate to be going and playing on Sunday. I’m proud of my team and their effort, and hopefully we get rested and whoever we play, I hope we give them a heck of a game,” added  Krzyzewski.

Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) led the USA with 18 points and four assists; while James Harden (Houston Rockets) scored all 16 of his points in the third quarter; Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors) added 16 points; and Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) finished with 13 points.

The USA’s eight-point, 43-35, halftime lead quickly ballooned to 18 points, 53-35, in the third quarter after Harden nailed a 3-pointer at 8:07 to cap a 10-0 run by the U.S. Following two free throws from Lithuania, the USA ripped off eight more unanswered points to take a 61-37 lead and secure control of the game.

“I thought it was a tough first half for us; we fouled too much,” Thompson said. “We had a nice lead going into halftime, it’s kind of been the story of this tournament, how we wear on teams, not letting a lead affect us and just playing hard for 40 minutes. That was huge for us in the third quarter, you’ve got to give credit to our starters for coming out hot and really setting the tone for the rest of the game.”

The USA, which again struggled to find the bottom of the net to start the game, trailed 13-10 midway through the first quarter, however, 3-pointers from Irving and Thompson helped warm the USA up, and the Americans closed the period by outscoring Lithuania 11-3 to lead 21-16 at the first break. The USA made just 6-of-21 from the field in the first quarter (.286). Also slowing the USA were three starters with two fouls each in the first quarter, including Curry, Faried and Harden, and the USA went over the five-foul limit with 6:56 remaining in the first quarter.

DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings) and Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans), both not only grabbed six rebounds in the game, but fouled out. Overall, the USA was whistled for 27 personal fouls that helped Lithuania to shoot 32-of-42 from the line, while the USA as just 11-of-20 itself from the charity stripe.

“We fouled like crazy; I can’t think of a game that I’ve coached for the U.S. where it’s 42 to 20 on free throws,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re usually the aggressor, and in that first half we had three of our starters with two fouls after three minutes. So there was a lot of adversity in this game.”

The second quarter started with two made free throws from Curry after the Lithuanian coach was whistled for a technical foul at the close of the first quarter. The USA worked its way to a 10-point lead at 7:27, but Lithuanian quickly cut that deficit to six points, 32-26 at 6:29. The teams traded scores over the next six minutes, and a basket from Irving with 41.6 seconds left made it 43-35 in the USA’s favor at the midway point.

While 11 offensive boards were helping to combat the USA’s 36.0 percent shooting from the field, Lithuania was winning the rebounding battle 28-26 at halftime. Lithuania shot even worse from the field, sinking a frigid 35.7 percent, of its field goal attempts, but Mindaugas Kuzminskas tallied all 12 of his first-half points in the second period to help keep his team within range of the USA.

Out of the halftime locker room, the USA quickly established control of the game. Nine of the USA’s third-quarter points came off of turnovers, and 15 were off of fast-break opportunities. After the USA’s 10-0 and 8-0 runs, the score was 70-43 in the third quarter at 2:33 and 76-49 when the two teams headed into the final 10 minutes.

“Defense,” Davis said of the difference in the second half. “I think we came out and played defense in that second half, shared the ball and got easy looks.”

The USA finished the game with a 50-38 advantage on the glass and with 24 points off of Lithuania’s 21 turnovers, compared to five points for Lithuania off the USA’s 16 turnovers.

Kuzminskas and Jonas Valanciunas finished with 15 points apiece for Lithuania.

Rounding out Krzyzewski’s USA National Team staff as assistant coaches are Syracuse University and Naismith Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau and New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams.

Since the first FIBA World Championship was held in 1950, the USA has won 11 medals – four gold medals, three silver medals and four bronze medals – while compiling an all time 122-27 win-loss record. Led By Krzyzewski, the Americans are defending World Champions having claim gold in Istanbul with a 9-0 record.

usa-earns-trip-to-fiba-world-cup-finals

USA Earns Trip To FIBA World Cup Finals

POINTS: 18*
ASSISTS: 4*
SHOOTING: 8/15 (53%)
MINUTES: 34*

“I thought Klay’s (Thompson) play in the first half was the biggest reason we were ahead at halftime. Then in the second half we were able to start fresh. We made a huge adjustment on the defense that helped a lot, and we didn’t give up threes; we stopped putting them on the line as much and we turned them over. The outrebounding them and turning them over I thought was the difference.

“Kyrie (Irving) was special in this game, in that third quarter he kind of got us moving and everybody started moving with him. We feel very fortunate to be going and playing on Sunday. I’m proud of my team and their effort, and hopefully we get rested and whoever we play, I hope we give them a heck of a game,” added Krzyzewski.

semifinals-world-cup-recap-9-11

Semifinals: World Cup Recap (9/11)

While the U.S. lead over Slovenia (5-2) was just 49-42 at the midway point of Tuesday’ quarterfinals game, the second half was all USA (7-0). Riding a game-changing 37-22 third quarter, the Americans pulled away for with a 119-76 win at Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, Spain. The win advanced the USA team into the semifinals of the 2014 FIBA World Cup.

The USA will meet Lithuania (6-1), which advanced after a 73-61 win over Turkey (4-3), in the semifinals on Sept. 11.

The remaining quarterfinal games, which will be played on Sept. 10 in Madrid, feature Serbia (3-3) against Brazil (5-1) and France (4-2) versus host Spain (6-0). Winners of the semifinals will advance to the Sept. 14 gold medal game, and the losers will meet in the bronze medal game on Sept. 13.

“ “It’s always an honor to play against Slovenia; so well coached, and I think as good of a perimeter as anybody in these two pools,” said USA coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke University). “With (the) Dragics (Goran and Zoran) and (Domen) Lorbek you have three of the really outstanding players in the whole tournament. So, we knew it would be a tough game. I thought we played really hard the whole game, we just couldn’t finish in the first half some of those plays, and they stayed with it and the flood gates opened in the second half. But our effort was there, intensity and emotion the whole game.”

While Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors) led six players with 20 points, 12 of James Harden’s (Houston Rockets) 14 points came in the third quarter, which saw the USA force Slovenia into eight of its 25 turnovers. Overall, 42 of the USA’s point were scored on a fast-break opportunity and 40 were scored off of turnovers.

“Our guards really got everybody involved and then we got loose balls, which, you get loose balls and you score 40 points off turnovers, your offense looks good,” Krzyzewski said. “Forty points off turnovers is a lot of points.”

Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets) added 14 points and 10 rebounds; Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans) finished with 13 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots; Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) had 12 points and four steals; and Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls) contributed 12 points and a game-high five assists.

Davis and Faried combined for 10 of the USA’s 23 offensive rebounds, which led to 31 second-chance points for the USA.

“We know they are a tough team. They don’t back down,” Thompson said of Slovenia. “They play physical. It’s a 40-minute game. If it was a 20-minute game, it would be a whole different story. We play good teams, like Slovenia and Lithuania next, we just want to keep pressuring them, keep wearing on them and not give them any easy shots. They got a few tonight, but as long as we keep flying around on defense. We’re more athletic than every team in this tournament, so we have to use that to our advantage.”

The USA started the game shooting a dismal 2-of-14 from the field (.143) and finished the quarter at 30.0 percent (9-30 FGs), but it collected 14 offensive boards to help combat its icy shooting. With the USA leading 26-15 at 1:49 after a 7-0 run, Slovenia, helped by five made free throws, cut the deficit to 29-22 at the first break. In his seven minutes played in the first quarter, Faried tallied eight points and six rebounds.

The USA led by as many as 12 points late in the second quarter, but again Slovenia responded in the final minutes and worked its way back to within seven points, including a 3-pointer at 35.0 seconds, to trail 49-42 at halftime.

After Slovenia scored the first points of the second half, the USA launched an 8-0 run, which was the first of three 8-0 spurts for the U.S. in the third quarter. The USA apparently left its shooting woes in the locker room as it shot 14-of-23 from the field (.609) and 3-of-4 from 3-point (.750) in the period.

“Great game, hats off to Slovenia, they’re a great team, a great 3-point shooting team,” Davis said. “They played hard and battled. We knew they were going battle. They had us on our heels a little bit going into half when we’re only up seven. We couldn’t make a shot fall but we just kept defending and that kind of triggered our offense.”

With a 22-point lead (86-64) heading into the final quarter, the USA had firm control of the game, and it continued to push the pace and find easy looks at the rim, outscoring Slovenia 33-12. The USA’s largest lead came with 44.0 seconds left when Mason Plumlee (Brooklyn Nets) scored. Slovenia hit a 3-pointer at 10 seconds to bring the game to its final score of 119-76.

All 12 U.S. players scored in the game and all 12 recorded at least five minutes played.

“I just think we did a great job competing on both sides of the floor,” Irving said. “Obviously it was close in the first two quarters. We just came out and competed at a different level in the second half.”

Slovenia was led by 13 points from NBA Phoenix Suns standout guard Goran Dragić; while his brother Zoran Dragić added 11 points and Domen Lorbek tallied 12 points.

Since the first FIBA World Championship was held in 1950, the USA has won 11 medals – four gold medals, three silver medals and four bronze medals – while compiling an all time 121-27 win-loss record. Led By Krzyzewski, the Americans are defending World Champions having claim gold in Istanbul with a 9-0 record.

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USA Runs Away From Slovenia For 119-76 Win

world-cup-quarterfinal-photos

World Cup Quarterfinal Photos

POINTS: 12
ASSISTS: 3
REBOUNDS: 4
STEALS: 4*
MINUTES: 25

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Quarterfinals: World Cup Recap

POINTS: 8
REBOUNDS: 9*
ASSISTS: 4
MINUTES: 32

POINTS: 13
ASSISTS: 5*
REBOUNDS: 3
MINUTES: 29

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Round 1: World Cup Recap (9/7)

Led by 20 points from Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), who tallied 11-straight points in the third quarter and shot 6-of-9 from 3-point for the game, the USA (6-0) advanced into the 2014 FIBA World Cup quarterfinals with a dominating 86-63 win over Mexico (2-4) on Saturday afternoon at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain.

The USA will meet the winner of Dominican Republic (2-3) - Slovenia (4-1), which is being played at 2 p.m. EDT, in the quarterfinals at 3 p.m. EDT on Sept. 9 in Barcelona.

“Overall I was pleased because it’s our sixth game in eight days, and we had this early game to get going,” said USA coach Mike Krzyzewski (Duke University). “I thought we continued to play good defense until the last few minutes when they just threw in two or three threes; they’d only had one three. So our defense on the three was terrific and especially on (Hector) Hernandez, who is their best 3-point shooter, and he didn’t score. Those are things we game planned for, and our guys responded.”

Curry’s Golden State teammate Klay Thompson finished with 15 points; James Harden (Houston Rockets) added 12 points; DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings), who followed up Curry’s third-quarter streak with nine straight points of his own, finished with 11 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots; and Rudy Gay scored 10 points to round out the double-digit scorers.

“Another great performance,” said Curry, who also dished out four of the USA’s 18 assists. “We came out better in the first five minutes of the game with energy and started pretty well. Our defense is still the thing that is keeping us going, putting pressure on our opponents to take them out of their offense and just force the tempo, and we did that at the start of the game and it kind of carried over throughout the rest of the game.”

The USA jumped ahead 13-2 to start the game, but Mexico responded with a 7-0 run to cut it to 13-9 at 4:21. Curry hit a 3-pointer to end Mexico’s spurt, and after one more score from Mexico, the USA closed with seven straight points to lead 23-13 at the first break.

The USA hit three 3-pointers in the second quarter, including two from Harden, who scored 10 points in the period, to help outscore Mexico 19-14 and take a 42-27 lead at halftime.

At the midway point, the USA actually was shooting better from 3-point (. 429) than from inside the arc (.400), and it when on to finish the game shooting 46.6 percent from the field (34-73 FGs) and 44.8 percent from 3-point (13-29 3pt FGs).

The USA’s 15-point, 42-27 halftime lead quickly ballooned to 27 points (57-30) after a score from Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Curry’s 11 straight points from 7:12 to 4:15. Cousin’s had the next nine points for the USA, and then a score by Gay helped the USA take a commanding 66-38 lead at the third-quarter break. The U.S. defense gave up just 11 points in the stanza.

“Our defense – that’s going to win us games,” Harden said. “We’re so talented offensively. Defensively if we can just click and make sure we’re on the same page for the most part, we’ll be pretty good.”

As the USA already had secured the win, Mexico outscored the USA 25-20 in the fourth quarter to bring the game to its 86-63 final.

While the USA’s scoring was spread across nine players and five in double-figures, Mexico’s NBA free agent Gustavo Ayon scored 25 of his team’s points.

In today’s round of 16 games in Madrid, France (4-2) beat Croatia (3-3) 69-64, and host Spain (5-0) will play Senegal (2-3) at 4 p.m. EDT.

The final four Round of 16 games, which will be played tomorrow, include: New Zealand (2-3) – Lithuania (4-1) at 10 a.m. EDT and Turkey (3-2) – Australia (3-2) at 2 p.m. EDT in Barcelona. In Madrid, the lineup is Serbia (2-3) – Greece (5-0) at 12 p.m. EDT and Brazil (4-1) – Argentina (3-2) at 4 p.m. EDT.

Winners of the round of 16 games will advance to the quarterfinals, while losers are eliminated. Quarterfinal winners advance to the medal round semifinals, and quarterfinal losers are eliminated from the competition. Winners of the semifinals will advance to the Sept. 14 gold medal game, and semifinals losers will meet in the bronze medal game on Sept. 13. The round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal games will be played in Barcelona and Madrid, and the bronze and gold medal games will be held in Madrid.

Since the first FIBA World Championship was held in 1950, the USA has won 11 medals – four gold medals, three silver medals and four bronze medals – while compiling an all time 120-27 win-loss record. Led By Krzyzewski, the Americans are defending World Champions having claim gold in Istanbul with a 9-0 record.

usa-cruises-past-mexico-86-63-into-fiba-world-cup-quarterfinals

USA Cruises Past Mexico 86-63, Into FIBA World Cup Quarterfinals

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