France are the winners of FIBA Basketball World Cup bronze medal. The team coached by Vincent Collet beat Australia 67-59 with a comeback in the second half. France was led defensively by Nicolas Batum while offensively Nando De Colo paced the team with 19 points.
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Tim Reynolds: Jazz center @Rudy Gobert on the bronze: "It means everything. Obviously it's not the one we wanted. We all know that. But being able to come back _ we're the only team that was on the podium five years ago and on the podium now. So it shows our heart."
Globally, there has been a lot of talk about Team USA’s absences, and the 32 players who withdraw their names from the preliminary roster. Fournier, 26 was critical of his competitors in the NBA: “It does [bother me]. To be honest, when you look at LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and all these guys… they came here already and won, so it’s fine. But for friends of mine like Tobias [Harris], I thought it was a great opportunity for him to see something different and compete. I think they don’t realize how beneficial this is for their career. It’s a great tournament, great basketball, super intense. I know you have to work on your game, but this is way better.”
Tim Reynolds: Magic G @EvanFourmizz after France win: "It feels good to finish on a good note. When you see Australia, the players, Bogut, Dellavedova, I know those guys and it's awful for them. But that's definitely what we didn't want, to finish the tournament feeling like (crap) like that."
Manu Ginobili: #FIBAWC Congrats to the French team on winning bronze and to the Aussies for a great tournament! 👏👏
Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Lamar Odom, LeBron James, and Kyrie Irving. Those are the only five players to win an NBA title and a gold medal in the same year, whether it was in FIBA or Olympic competition, with Pippen doing it twice. It is an exclusive club – one that Marc Gasol is on the cusp of joining.
A mere three months after helping the Toronto Raptors win the NBA Finals, Gasol has led Spain to the gold medal game at the World Cup. It’ll be Spain against Argentina on Sunday, with both nations looking for their second title. Spain won the world championship in 2006 when Gasol was a 21-year-old backup, and Argentina won the inaugural tournament in 1950. “I’m so deep in the rabbit hole right now that I don’t get to see much light,” Gasol said. “You’re so focused on your opponent, your next rival, recovering, doing whatever’s necessary to win games that you don’t look at the big picture. It’s been great. I’m very fortunate. “I knew that committing to the national team this summer would not be easy physically. But it’s so worth it, and not just because we’re in the final game.”
A USA Basketball spokesman responded Saturday to comments made on ESPN suggesting Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox would not be allowed to represent Team USA in the future because he withdrew from consideration for this summer’s FIBA World Cup team.
Popovich said it's too early to think about what USA Basketball needs to do before getting ready for the Tokyo Games. But he warned -- just as two-time gold medalist Kobe Bryant did on Friday -- that the days of American romps to gold are done. "There are a lot of great teams in the world," Popovich said. "It's not written in stone that the United States is supposed to walk to a championship. That's pretty old-school thinking. Even the teams that have won in the past had a lot of close calls."
Serbia guard Bogdan Bogdanovic finished the 2019 World Cup with some phenomenal stats, including the number of 3-pointers he made in the tournament. In fact, Bogdanovic hit more 3-pointers by his own than seven national teams that participated in the World Cup.
“People want to play the blame game, there’s no blame to be placed anywhere,” Popovich said. “They want to play the shame game, like we should be ashamed because we didn’t win a gold medal? That’s a ridiculous attitude. It’s immature, it’s arrogant, and it shows that whoever thinks that doesn’t respect all the other teams in the world and doesn’t respect that these guys did the best they could.”
“I don’t fault anybody that decided not to come — everybody’s got a life,” Popovich said. “Things happen in people’s families. People have things going on. Could be injuries, could be personal commitments that they have. Whoever came, came. “This group I couldn’t have been happier with any other group no matter who would’ve come. They wouldn’t have worked any harder this group.”
Tim Reynolds: Donovan Mitchell, world-class good dude, was the last American to leave the court in the pre-warmup period. He took off his sneakers and tossed them into the crowd -- making sure a young fan he was pointing to got them.
Australia and Bogut -- if he plays -- will face the wrath of much of the Beijing arena when they take on France for the bronze medal. The footage of Bogut swearing repeatedly and making accusations of favouritism was widely featured in Chinese media. Many reports called for FIBA to ban him.
Baynes was typically staunch when leaving training, delivering his message as he breezed by journalists to the bus. "I've got three words for you; nothing else, no questions, nothing," he said. "Regroup. Refocus. Reinvigorate."
The loose ball foul against Andrew Bogut is the one most will point to - he sure did - with the centre apparently making contact with Marc Gasol, who would hit a pair of free throws to give Spain a one-point lead. Patty Mills would split a pair on the other end, sending the game to overtime. “They’re furious. They’re crushed and furious,” Longley said. “Where their fury is directed, I can’t tell you. Probably all over the place. It’s very quiet in there. That’s the team we lost to in Rio, but we felt like we deserved to win it. We felt like we played well enough to win it. Yeah, it’s pretty quiet in there.”
Spain was waiting for its opponent in the 2019 FIBA World Cup final on Sunday at Beijing and Argentina completed the pairing in the gold medal match by defeating France, 80-66, on Friday at China’s capital. Manu Ginobili was in attendance for both semifinals, but thoroughly enjoyed his country triumph in the second contest. Former teammate Luis Scola put in the work on the court with a 13-10 double-double at halftime and 28 points coupled with 13 boards in the end of the match.
Doug Smith: Argentina 80, France 66 Scola plays 34 of 40 minutes, has 28 points and 13 rebounds Argentina won first world championship in 1950, Luis was not on that team, I don't think Gold medal game Sunday vs. Spain
"You have to remember on the Redeem Team we needed a hell of a fourth quarter to beat Spain. That was a hell of a team we had. We still needed a real late push to beat Spain in that gold medal match. So I say that to say, put the best players that you think are going to make the best U.S. team out on the floor, we are still going to have challenges. It's not going to be a cakewalk. The days of the 92 Barcelona Dream Team are gone. They're over, so it's going to be tough."
That last player to earn NBA and FIBA titles in the same summer was Lamar Odom in 2010, when he won with the Los Angeles Lakers and was a part of Team USA's victory in the World Championships in Turkey. "I don't want to lose a second to think what it would mean," Gasol said. "You look at the big picture. I'm very fortunate I committed to the national team this summer."
Donatas Urbonas: Andrew Bogut stormed out the mixed zone: “It’s a fu**ing disgrace”
Emiliano Carchia: Andrew Bogut after foul on Marc Gasol witth 8 seconds to play He “shows” money…
John Schuhmann: After Australia’s 2OT loss to Spain in the WC semifinals here in Beijing, Andrew Bogut cursed his way past all the reporters in the mix zone, griping about FIBA & clearly wanting to be heard.
Olgun Uluc: An emotional but measured Luc Longley, after Australia’s loss: “Spain gets kissed on the dick by the basketball gods every time we play them.”
Spain’s experienced core didn’t break against a feisty Australia and survived a double-overtime to return to the final of FIBA World Cup after 13 long years with a 95-88 victory. Australia had a great chance to make history and showcased impressive athleticism for 50 minutes, though when Sergio Llull stepped foot in the second OT, things turned out in Spain’s favor.
Tim Reynolds: Andrew Bogut screaming postgame that FIBA is “a (bleeping) disgrace.” “Cheating bleep bleeper-bleepers” was also shouted.
Djordjevic did not want to use curse words at his postgame news conference, but he revealed later that Popovich, the five-time N.B.A. championship-winning coach, broke the pregame ice by jokingly calling them “a couple of losers” — with a profanity thrown in. “We were just looking at each other, saying, ‘We are playing this?’” Djordjevic said, referring to Thursday’s fifth-place-bracket game.
“He said we should be playing for something else,” Djordjevic continued. “The disappointment is there. Competitors are like that.”
Giannis Antetokounmpo made his first public reaction following the elimination of Greece in the World Cup second round stage. The “Greek Freak” uploaded a photo of him with the jersey of his national team and the caption: “Blessings show up in many different forms.. Don’t ever second guess Gods plan.”
Factor in the language barrier and the culture shock that most Australians experience when first arriving in China, and the World Cup has proven itself to be one hell of a taxing tournament. “It’s tough,” Andrew Bogut said on Wednesday. “It’s tougher than an NBA schedule.”
Andrew Bogut: “FIBA is way more physical than the NBA, first and foremost. It’s pretty hard recovering, just 48 hours rest. Then, couple that with: everything in China takes twice as long as they say it’s supposed to; traffic, a lot of people everywhere, nothing every runs on time.”
Of the 35 players originally selected for the U.S. player pool, only four are in China for the World Cup. The U.S. lost to France in the quarterfinals, ending a streak of seven major international tournaments — four Olympics and three World Cups — where the Americans captured a medal, the last five of them being gold. “I can only say, you can’t help but notice and remember who you thought you were going to war with and who didn’t show up,” Colangelo said. “I’m a firm believer that you deal with the cards you’re dealt. All we could have done, and we did it, is get the commitments from a lot of players. So with that kind of a hand you feel reasonably confident that you’re going to be able to put a very good representative team on the court. “No one would have anticipated the pull-outs that we had.”
Marcus Morris: I knew @usabasketball should of let @Carmelo Anthony play! 🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️🤦🏾♂️
Myles Turner: From 1-12 top to bottom this team this roster has sacrificed so much for our nation. our summers, our bodies, our mental. We came up short can’t nobodies more upset than us but I refuse to tolerate any Slander for our play you cannot question our heart, Our character, or are spirit we layed it all out on the line each and every game. Don’t disrespect us this coaching staff or USA Basketball as a whole but respect the world basketball is an international game these countries are talented. JB, Khris, JT, Dmitch, Mason, Marcus, Kemba, D White, BrooK, HB, Joe it’s been an honor I’d go to war with any of these fellas any given night. #Godspeed fellas let’s head home with a Dub 🇺🇸
Myles Turner: We’re also the ones who stepped up to the plate when others stepped down. We qualified our nation for the Olympics we got some work to do to rebuild a legacy that was left before us were on the wrong side of history indeed. But that’s gunna make the next medal that much sweeter!
Joe Vardon: More bad history for Team USA. Lose two straight for first time since 2002, falling 94-89 to Serbia. Best Americans can do at World Cup is seventh, worst since NBA players took over in 1992.
“It’s all sort of sinking in right now,” the Nets’ Joe Harris said. “They outplayed us from the get-go, really. We were reacting the whole night. “You put in a lot of a time, a lot of work, you build up a special bond with these guys and the coaches. And then for it not to come to fruition at the end of it all, it’s a tough pill to swallow.”
One locker-room observer suggested afterward that, in his time in the league, he had never seen such a despondent scene after a loss. Harris, unprompted, made multiple mentions of the “39 days” that this group spent together trying to establish sufficient continuity to get through eight games and make their summer more of a non-story.
Turner had a brilliant game Monday against Brazil, and he may have let it get to his head. He compared himself to Gobert and said, “He’s the defensive player of the year, according to some.” Well, the French players saw the quote and showed it to Gobert. “Yeah we saw it and we showed it to him,” said Nicolas Batum, of the Hornets. “We know he’s great on defense, so we’re going to use it to motivate him tonight.”
“A lot of guys played well,” Popovich said. “(Gobert and Fornier) were outstanding, but they have a basketball team. All the pieces fit and they’re all playing defense. Their sharing the basketball. They made good decisions. There weren’t too many mental mistakes. I think the switching bothered them for a while and we got back in the game and went ahead. In the end, I think their experience and their execution showed. It wasn’t just two guys.”
“To hear Donovan be so passionate about wanting to play (was great),” Ingles said. “I was like, ‘Oh, are you going to pull out because everyone else is?’, and (Mitchell said), ‘No, I’m going to play for my country.’ He’s obviously like really proud to do that. Obviously Rudy is (too). I know in the past with (former Jazz guard) Ricky (Rubio of Spain, who’s now with Phoenix), and playing against Ricky for so long, there’s genuine love (for playing on the national team). “You’ve got to respect, to a certain extent, guys’ decisions (not to play) because there is career (impact). Some guys are in contract years this offseason, and there’s a lot that goes into it. I think for us, for me, it’s – I’m all Australia right now, and as soon as we’re done with that I’ll switch right off and go to Jazz mode.”
Tom Westerholm: Jaylen Brown was asked about the locker room after the loss: “I don’t even know how to answer that. Like everybody knows what we wanted to do, and we didn’t do it. I guess you can imagine how we feel, right?”
The exciting thing, however, is that they beat the USA by being among other things taller. Coach Gregg Popovich had to play small against Rudy Gobert, but the small ball didn’t affect at all the French game plan. “We knew, and we didn’t want to adjust to that,” explained Batum after the game. “We wanted to keep him on the court. Because… he is our best player. He is the back-to-back defensive player of the year. We know what he can bring in defense and offense as well. That’s why the coach kept him on the court. We knew that his defense would help us. And he also help us on offense. He got better, and that will be the next step for him. He has shown some improvement, he moves better, he knows how to get inside, and if he gets to be like we want him to be, it will be the next step.”
And also one of the surprises of the game was Frank Ntilikina. He not only played good defense but made some big shots down the stretch, scoring seven of his total 11 points in the last quarter. “He was clutch,” said Batum. “And that was a big turnaround for us. We lost our point guard (Thomas Heurtel) to injury during the preparation, and we needed him to have a big tournament. It’s something that will help him for the rest of his career. And this can be a big deal for him during next year, cause he is a great player”.
Rudy Gobert: Encore 2. 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/WhDGGoIuAG
Rudy Gobert has now got some “bragging rights” over his Utah Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell following the historic win of France over Team USA in the World Cup quarterfinals. However, the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year will leave trash talk aside for now since he can imagine how much this defeat hurt his teammate. “I don’t think that’s the way I am,” Gobert said. “I like to talk a little trash. But this kind of competition….I just lost to Australia. I love Joe but I wanted to stop him. It hurts. I think this experience is going to make Donovan better. We have to go hard when we go for the national team, but we also have to go that way with Utah. I’m excited for both.”
“Any loss hurts,” Popovich said. “This situation hurts more, but life goes on. This is very important. We would have loved to have won, just like any other team would love to win all their games in this tournament. But we’re all grown. We all have families, lives, and life goes on.”
Team USA coach and five-time NBA champion Gregg Popovich didn’t want to hear any discussion about the squad’s numerous absences, following the eliminating loss to France in the World Cup quarterfinals. A result that marked USA’s first defeat in an official game in 13 years. “I think it’s a disrespectful notion,” Popovich said following a question to USA guard Donovan Mitchell on if he wanted to see some other NBA players at his side. “To even bring up something like that up: ‘Hey if you guys had this guy and had that guy’. That’s disrespectful to France or whoever else is in the tournament. France beat us. It doesn’t matter who is on the team. I couldn’t have been more proud of these 12 guys who sacrificed their summer to come here. Having never played together before. They put themselves in the arena and competed and they deserve credit for that. Just like France deserves credit for winning. It’s not about ‘well, the USA didn’t have their other guys’. There’s no such thing as ‘other guys’. These are the guys who are here. They did a great job and I’m very proud of them.
Tim Reynolds: Enormous credit to the disappointed USA players who came out and talked to us tonight -- Kemba, Donovan, Joe Harris, Harrison Barnes, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, I might be missing some, and no one ducked requests. First class.
Nikola Vucevic: Oh man we will never hear the end of this now
You would expect a celebration after France’s wins but that was not the case. There were smiles but things were pretty quiet and there was a reason for that. France had beaten the host country and their longtime nemesis Spain back in the 2014 FIBA World Cup quarterfinals. Nobody really remembers that, however, since Serbia beat France in the semifinal. And Even Fournier remembers it: “We have won the quarterfinals, but if we lose the next one, we will return to Paris like suckers. We have seen it when we were beaten by Serbia back in the 2014 World Cup and then we relaxed. It’s obvious that it’s an experience that will help us”.
Marc J. Spears: Team USA had won 58 straight in “international tournaments” overall with NBA players on its roster. America's last loss came 13 years ago against Greece in the semi-finals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship. There is one more game at the @FIBAWC for @usabasketball.
Tim Reynolds: Pop: “Life will go on.”
Oleh Kosel: Huge upset! USA loses 89-79 to France in FIBA quarterfinals. Sure didn't resemble Team USA basketball of yesteryear down the stretch. Barnes and Middleton had turnovers. Kemba and Smart combined to miss 4 free throws. Numerous missed lay-ins -- though Gobert was a wall. Still.
Brian Windhorst: Jayson Tatum (ankle) is a game time decision for Team USA vs. France in World Cup quarterfinals. Game is at 7 am ET on ESPN2 & ESPNApp
Mark Woods: Spain beat Poland 90-78 to set up a World Cup semi-final against either Australia or Czech Rep. Mike Taylor’s man still in hunt for an amazing Olympic berth.
Nikos Varlas: Ricky Rubio is now the #FIBAWC all-time leader in assists over Pablo Prigioni pic.twitter.com/a51HiI5ntS
Serbia forward Nemanja Bjelica made his self-criticism while praising his team’s camaraderie following the eliminating loss to Argentina in the World Cup quarterfinals. “We weren’t ready for this game. Especially mentally. Especially myself. I take complete responsibility for it. I know we are a team but as one of the leaders… I must say I played like s–t,” Bjelica said in the post-game presser.
“They deserved this victory today. What I can say for us is that we are a great group of guys. We didn’t lose this game because are arrogant or we think that we are something special. We just didn’t prepare ourselves the right way. I can talk for hours but this loss is very tough. It’s hard. But it’s basketball.”
Team USA has turned out to be a collection of egoless, agenda-absent warriors who are willing to take the unglamorous route to win. To a man, the players like each other. This is, of course, the polar opposite of how things went in Boston last season.
Emiliano Carchia: Argentina’s NT head coach Hernandez: "A year ago, Luis Scola, after a practice or a game, I don’t remenber well, told me: ‘We can play semifinals at the World Cup”' I asked him if he was sured. And he said 'Definitely yes'. This describes who Luis Scola is” (via @Cabbofficial)
Jorge Sierra: Major upset at the World Cup: Argentina, without a single NBA player, beats a Serbian NT with Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Nemanja Bjelica and Boban Marjanovic. The Serbians won their first four games of the tournament by an average of 40.7 points. Life comes at you fast.
Jorge Sierra: Argentina is the first team to make the World Cup semifinals without NBA players this century. Just an FYI.
Playing significant minutes at power forward in Tatum's place and even playing occasionally at center, Brown's flexibility and intensity have been a needed injection. "I feel like I'm not a position player, I'm a basketball player. 4-3-2, whatever coach needs me to do, I will make the adjustment," Brown said. "Obviously with Jayson out, there's a little more opportunity and maybe it was a little more visible. But every time I take the floor, I want to be aggressive."
Brown is sometimes quiet, but he's not meek. That attitude has been positive this summer. "Chemistry is built when you hit adversity together and you've got to push through it," Brown said. "We've been challenged multiple times on this trip. We started Aug. 4 and now it's Sept. 10. We've seen a lot together."
"Well he's a strong player," Popovich said. "For his size and strength he moves well, and he will penetrate. He can catch and pull it. Get to the rim. And he's unselfish and finding other people. He's just kind of an all-around player. He has stepped in and given us good minutes at both ends of the floor for sure."
Stadium:Good news for the Celtics and USA Basketball, per NBA Insider @ShamsCharania: Jayson Tatum has a strong chance to make his return for Team USA in quarterfinals against France on Wednesday.
"We're thrilled that we qualified for the Olympics," said San Antonio Spurs mastermind Popovich, whose team will now face France on Wednesday in the World Cup quarter-finals. "With this new situation of qualifying, you don't want to have to do that every year. So it's a pretty big grind," said the 70-year-old.
Many journalists, especially from the USA, reacted negatively to Thanasis Skourtopoulos resting the Greek Freak in the fourth quarter against Team USA, and on Monday after failing to qualify to the quarter-finals, he addressed the criticism he’s faced. “If we had the opportunity to set up a team from the start for Giannis… I constantly read comments online saying why the Greek national team doesn’t play like the Bucks, and I don’t know how to react. We’re not the Bucks; it’s that simple. We don’t need to say anything else”, he said.
Skourtopoulos, 54 also talked about the differences there are between the way Milwaukee uses him and the situation in the national team: “The Bucks are a well-structured team with Giannis as a centerpiece. We are a team that also has Antetokounmpo as a centerpiece, but with some players around him who have their own personality, and value and they are also a big part of the team.”
Joe Vardon: That's it. Team USA runs the table to get to the elimination round at the FIBA World Cup. Americans 89, Brazil 73. Kemba Walker, Myles Turner score 16 each. The French await on Wednesday
Tim Reynolds: Tomas Satoransky on the charging call that ended Giannis' World Cup: "In Europe, they'd probably call it. In the NBA, they wouldn't call it, obviously, because they protect stars."
Nikos Varlas: The Czech Republic is close to a historic qualification to the World Cup Quarterfinals. Greece and Giannis Antetokounmpo are eliminated despite the win. | Eurohoops eurohoops.net/en/fibawc/9317…
Joe Vardon: Greece beats the Czech Republic, which guarantees the Americans a spot in the FIBA World Cup quarterfinal. However, due to tie breaker rules, the Czechs are in good position to make it, too. Just need a win by USA over Brazil
Vasilije Micic may not be available for Serbia’s clash with Argentina, due to the passing of his mother on Monday (09/09). The player’s club, Anadolu Efes, announced the sad news earlier today. It is likely that Micic will leave China and will return to Serbia to attend the funeral of his mother.
Harrison Wind: Serbia’s loss also puts them on the same side of the bracket as Team USA (as long as USA beats Brazil) meaning there probably won’t be a Serbia/USA gold medal game. The two will meet in the semis if Serbia beats Argentina and USA beats Brazil then France/Australia.
Joel Rush: After not getting a foul call on a Marc Gasol and Juancho Hernangomez trap, Nikola Jokic yells at the ref, and gets ejected from the game. #FIBAWC #SerbiaSpain
