Background: East L.A. Sports Scene.Com will keep our avid basketball fans up to date with our recaps and coverage of Team USA & USA Basketball at the FIBA World Cup Tournament. This tournament was re-formatted to become the FIBA World Cup of Basketball. The (24) countries that will compete for the 2014 FIBA World title, began “Pool or Round-Robin” play in several Spanish cities on August 30th. USA Basketball, the national governing body of basketball for our country, once again has assembled (12) outstanding NBA players, both young and veteran, from our Men’s National Team roster. They are charged with defending our World Championship title, claimed in Istanbul, Turkey, four years ago. To follow all of the 2.5 weeks of International hoops action, go to these sites: www.nba.com/fiba and www.fiba.com. To follow Team USA on-line go to www.usab.com
Recap/Game Day 6/
The Medal Round of the “Sweet 16” began rather easily in Barcelona for Team USA as it took care of business to go deeper into the FIBA World Cup of Basketball. This time, our neighbor to the South, Mexico, was standing in the way, but “The Splash Brothers” from the Golden State “Warriors,” Stephen Curry (20) and Klay Thompson (15), put on a 3 point shooting clinic for the world to see, and the result was our 6th consecutive win. Final score: 86-63. Team USA shot a blistering 13-29 (44.8% ) from the 3 point line, one of the highest in the tournament. Other teammates in the double-figure scoring mix were: James Harden (12), DeMarcus Cousins (11), and Rudy Gay (10). With the easy victory, playing time was spread around nicely by Coach Krzyzewski. In the final recap of this game, give credit to Mexico, the current FIBA Americas Champion. In their first trip to this Tournament in quite some time, they played well enough to grab the attention of FIBA Coaches, while showing much promise for next year’s qualifying tournaments, and hopefully, a long-anticipated return to the Olympic Games. The Quarter-Finals (Elite 8) are next. Rico Cabrera, Sr./East L.A. Sports Scene.Com
Selected Player Stats:
Curry, (20) points on 7-10 FGs/6-9 3-Ptrs/4 assts/1 stl; Thompson (15) points on 6-14 FGs/3-9 3-Ptrs/5 rebs/2 assts; Harden (12) points on 3-7 FGs/2-5 3-Ptrs/4-4 FTs/2 assts; Cousins (11) points on 5-5 FGs/ 1-1 FTs/7 rebs/1 asst/1 blk; Gay (10) points on 4-7 FGs/2-3 3-Ptrs/
Next Game:vs. Slovenia, Tuesday, Sept 9th at 12 noon (PST). Check listings for channel.