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Team USA Advances to Semis at FIBA World Cup
BARCELONA -- The U.S. Men's Senior National Team, led by head coach Mike Krzyzewski, advanced to the semifinals of the 2014 FIBA World Cup with a 119-76 win over Slovenia Tuesday at Palau Sant Jordi Arena in Barcelona. Team USA led Slovenia (5-2) by a slim seven-point margin [49-42] at the midway point of the game before outscoring Slovenia, 70-34, after intermission.
The USA will next meet Lithuania (6-1), which advanced after a 73-61 win over Turkey (4-3), in the semifinals on Sept. 11. Former Blue Devil Martynas Pocius is averaging 7.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game for Lithuania. He is coming off his top performance in the FIBA World Cup after scoring 13 points and adding three assists and two steals in the win over Turkey.
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.”
Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors) led six players Team USA double-figure scorers with 20 points while 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.
“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.”
Davis and Faried combined for 10 of the USA’s 23 offensive rebounds, which led to 31 second-chance points for the USA.
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.
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.
More information on Team USA including complete box scores, statistics, quotes and photo galleries are available at www.usab.com.
