The 2023 Basketball World Cup, which was held in Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan, closed in style with a final on par with what was experienced in Southeast Asia. Germany was proclaimed champion for the first time in its history after beating Serbia in a World Cup that everyone will remember, in which the impossible had a place, emotion became routine and, above all, basketball, and only basketball was the protagonist.
The World Cup is already historic. Because of his level on the floor, because of the anecdotes, because of the surprises and because of the lessons that he left behind. A multi-venue World Cup for the first time in history. A World Cup that began being marked by absences and ended up being the surprise.
Because that’s how this World Cup could be defined, as a giant surprise. From Latvia and its army of Latvians in the headquarters of Jakarta (Indonesia) to the reincarnation of Kobe Bryant in the Jordanian Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, passing clearly through the double fall of the North American powers in the semifinals against the European teams and the first victory Germany World Cup.
A team, the German one, led by Dennis Schröder, MVP of the tournament with many arguments to be champion. He deserved it from the beginning, she was the most solid, the most complete, the one who most trusted in her possibilities and the one who fought the hardest for a gold that was as unexpected as it was deserved based on a choral philosophy that ended undefeated.
Basketball belongs to the teams, not the stars
And it is precisely that last one, the double European victory against the North American powers, that left one of the greatest lessons of the entire World Cup: the difference between the two continents, once insurmountable, is now much smaller with group basketball as weapon against individual talent.
Because without Nikola Jokic, Serbia seemed naked; without Porzingis, no one took into account the Latvia that became everyone’s favorite at some point; and with Luka Doncic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards, neither Slovenia, nor Canada, nor the United States were close to gold.
“Basketball has become globalized in the last 30 years and the games are difficult, this is not 1992. The players are better, the teams are better and it is not easy to win a World Cup or the Olympic Games,” reflected Steve Kerr, US coach. , right at the end of the semifinal with Germany.
A tour of the tournament, the one in the United States, was disappointing considering the final baggage of results. Four victories and three defeats in the seven games played, giving the sensation of precisely that, of being a team that lacked teamwork.
Something that, on the other hand, could not be attributed to the Canada of Spaniard Jordi Fernández, which won its first World Cup medal with a mix of both, individual talent and teamwork that, yes, could not beat the powerful Serbia of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nikola Jovic in the semifinals.
Serbia, runner-up in the Basketball World Cup.
Ezra Acayan/Getty Images
The surprises and falls of the greats
In the pools there were some teams that were showing signs of success, that seemed destined to be in the final phase of Manila, and others that were not so much.
Latvia was, accompanied by its energetic fans, one of those beautiful surprises that the World Cup left behind. He got the ticket to Manila in a second phase with Canada, Brazil and Spain, and in a first phase with France, the great disappointment, although in a certain way calm having reserved the Olympic place as organizer.
Two greats like Spain did not advance to the quarterfinals either, which defended the throne diminished by the absences of Lorenzo Brown and Ricky Rubio; or Australia, which could not beat Doncic’s Slovenia.
Canada celebrates its victory over the United States in the 2023 Basketball World Cup
AFP
A world of records and farewells
The World Cup was also a meeting point for records. Two individuals and two groups stood out above the rest.
The groups correspond to two African teams. The first of them, to the victorious World Cup premiere of Eddinson Tavares’ Cape Verde. The Africans, the team representing the country with the smallest population in a World Cup, celebrated their victory against Venezuela as the milestone it represents for their country, in what was a new page in the successful career of Real Madrid center Edy Tavares.
The second on the African continent, South Sudan’s first qualification for the Olympic Games in what was also its first World Cup. Three victories and two defeats were enough for him to get a direct ticket to Paris 2024.
The singles corresponded to the Spanish Rudy Fernández and the Latvian Arturs Zagars.
Zagars, who is currently without a team, made basketball World Cup history by finishing the game against Lithuania for fifth place (98-63) with a total of 17 assists, surpassing the previous record of 15 assists by two. which was shared by the Croatian Toni Kukoc and the South Sudanese Carlik Jones, who achieved it in this same edition.
Rudy, for his part, continued to increase his legend. With 255 caps he surpassed Juan Carlos Navarro and became the Spaniard with the most caps. Another new mark in a World Cup in which he had already broken several records because he also became the Spaniard with the most games played in a World Cup (38), which placed him as the third player with the most games in World Cups. in history, only surpassed by Ubiratan Pereira Maciel (Brazil- 41), Luis Scola (Argentina- 41).
He also entered the select club of 14 players who have played in five World Cups after his minutes at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta. He is the first European to achieve it. He had the opportunity to share the milestone with one of his best friends, the Brazilian Marcelinho Huertas. Two players who, like the Italian Luigi ‘Gigi’ Datome, were in his last appearance at a World Cup.
In short, a World Cup of lessons, of records, of beautiful surprises, of farewells, of opportunities to shine and of basketball. A lot of basketball. A World Cup to remember everyone.
Latvia celebrating its victory over Brazil.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP
2023-09-11 23:36:43
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