Mission Accomplished.
Team USA remained undefeated in FIBA World Cup competition with a 89-73 victor over Brazil in the second round of competition in Shenzhen, China to earn the No. 1 seed in the Sept. 11 and secured a spot in the 2020 Olympics in Japan. The U.S. has won 58 straight games in World Cup and Olympic competition.
“We’re thrilled that we qualified for the Olympics,’’ USA coach Gregg Popovich said. “With this new situation of qualifying, you don’t want to have to do that every year. So that’s a pretty big grind. Coach (Jeff) Van Gundy (who coached the U.S. D League qualifying teams) did that for us. He’s done a hell of a job so not having to do that again was huge.’’
The Americans (5-0) will meet France (4-1) in the quarterfinals at 7 a.m. EDT in Dongguan, China. The other Sept. 11 semi-final will see Australia (5-0) against the Czech Republic (3-2) at 9.m. in Shanghai.
The Sept. 10 quarter finals will feature Argentina (5-0) against Serbia (4-1) at 7 a.m. EDT in Dongguan and Spain (5-0) taking on Poland (4-1) at 9 in Shanghai.
Seven teams directly qualify for the Olympics from the World Cup. The USA and Argentina qualified as the top two finishing teams representing the Americans zone, along with Nigeria (3-2) from Africa, Iran (2-3) from Asia and Australia from the Oceanic. Still up for grabs are the two teams from FIBA Europe. Spain, Czech Republic, Serbia and Poland are still in contention.
Forward Kyles Turner from Indiana scored 16 points and grabbed 8 rebounds for Team USA, which led by just 43-39 at half, then pulled away. Point guard Kemba Walker, who missed the morning shoot-around with an illness, also finished with 16 points and 5 assists; forward Jaylen Brown of Boston had 11 and Harrison Barnes added 10.
Vitor Benite led Brazil with 21 points and well- known NBA names Anderson Varejao and Leonardo Barbara each added 14.
The Brazilians were hurt when head coach Aleksandar Petrovic was ejected with 7:10 left in the second quarter of a competitive game. For the Americans, forward Jayson Tatum of the Celtics did not play for a third consecutive game because of a sprained left ankle and guard Marcus Smart of Boston, who has battled leg issues all summer, limped to the bench in the fourth quarter in obvious discomfort.
