2014 FIBA World Cup: Previewing the quarterfinals match-ups
The Round of 16 in the 2014 FIBA World Cup is now down to the eight-team quarterfinals. Team USA and Spain rolled in their respective match-ups while Lithuania, Turkey, and France survived tough battles in their single elimination games. What do the quarterfinals have in store for us?
Let's preview the next round:
LITHUANIA vs. TURKEY -- Tuesday, 10:50am ET
How did Lithuania get here? Lithuania won Group D with a 4-1 record, clinching the top spot of the group with their victory over Slovenia in the final day of group play. Lithuania played their Round of 16 game against New Zealand, and received much more of a fight than expected. Corey Webster of New Zealand went off for 26 points, but only received double-digit scoring from teammate Isaac Fotu, who had 11 points. Kirk Penney struggled mightily for New Zealand, much like he did all tournament. He shot just 1-of-7 from the field in the elimination game and finished with six points.
Lithuania couldn't hit from the outside, going just 6-of-23 from 3-point range. However, they didn't allow New Zealand to get going from the perimeter either (6-of-22). Toronto Raptors' center Jonas Valanciunas feasted on the small front line for New Zealand by going for 22 points, 13 rebounds, and three blocked shots. Lithuania lived at the free throw line too by shooting 11 more attempts than New Zealand. The disparity happened mostly due to the final minute of the game when the Tall Blacks tried to extend the game with fouling to stop the clock. After missing two big free throws with 40 seconds left, Martynas Pocius sank two free throws with 11 seconds left to seal it and give him 11 points on the day. Lithuania won 76-71.
How did Turkey get here? Turkey went 3-2 in Group C to finish with the second best record in the group. They faced off in the Round of 16 against Australia, who threw their final game in an attempt to avoid Team USA for as long as possible. It almost worked too, except Emir Preldzic crossed up Cameron Bairstow before burying the winning 3-point shot with five seconds left in their game.
Preldzic finished with 16 points and seven rebounds. He was 3-of-7 from downtown with the most important one coming down two and the tournament on the line for Turkey. Sinan Güler also had 16 points in the victory, as they overcame a late deficit and survived getting destroyed on the boards by the Aussies, 44-30 (13-7 on offensive boards). Turkey won the game 65-64.
Key match-up: Jonas Valanciunas vs. Omer Asik. These are two gigantic human beings who can throw their body around and impact what happens at the rim. Asik will be asked to keep Valanciunas honest inside and not roam for blocked shots, but he'll mostly have to keep the Lithuanian big man in check. With the perimeter attack of Lithuania in question, Valanciunas' presence scoring inside will be even more important than usual. They need him to be a young star and get Turkey's interior in foul trouble early.
Outlook for the game: Lithuania has more talent, especially inside where the strength of Turkey usually is. But Turkey's shown some resilience in this tournament and can't be counted out, even if the game isn't going their way. Lithuania will win this game if they control the interior. Winner moves on to play the winner of Team USA vs. Slovenia.
TEAM USA vs. SLOVENIA -- Tuesday, 3:00pm ET
How did Team USA get here? Team USA went 5-0 in Group C with the highest point differential to earn a match-up with the 2-3 Mexico. In their game against Mexico, they finally had a fast start on both ends of the floor that helped them avoid having to turn the momentum in their favor sometime in the second quarter. That hadn't happened since their blowout victory over Finland. It was exactly what USA needed to show themselves the focus and energy necessary to dominate a game from the opening tip. Aside from a brief 7-0 run by Mexico in the middle of the first quarter, this was USA's game until the third unit was in and the game was decided in the fourth quarter.
USA got a huge bump from Stephen Curry, who went 6-of-9 from 3-point range to lead the team with 20 points. Curry has shot over 50 percent from downtown since going 0-of-5 in the opening game against Finland. DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Kenneth Faried, Klay Thompson, and James Harden all had nice games for Team USA to overcome a 25-point performance by Gustavo Ayon. USA Basketball took the win 86-63.
How did Slovenia get here? Slovenia went 4-1 and finished in second place behind Lithuania for Group D. That set them up to face Dominican Republic in the Round of 16. Dominican Republic didn't get its typical performance out of Francisco Garcia (just eight points), but James Feldeine tried to make up for it with 18 points and four steals. Jack Michael Martinez chipped in 12 points and 11 rebounds, as well. They just didn't have enough firepower and went 2-of-12 from 3-point range.
The Dragic brothers weren't as effective and efficient as we've seen them before, but they were still too much to overcome. Goran Dragic had six turnovers, but still scored 12 points on 12 shots and dished out six assists. Zoran Dragic had 18 points on 15 shots to go with four steals. Slovenia's defense was spectacular throughout the game by forcing 16 turnovers, allowing fewer than 20 points in all but the third quarter, and holding Dominican Republic to 40.7 percent shooting from the field. Slovenia won 71-61.
Key match-up: Double Dragic vs. Team USA's interior. Zoran and Goran Dragic will have their hands full with the backcourt of Team USA, but what they really need to do is draw fouls at the rim and finish against Anthony Davis, Kenneth Faried, and DeMarcus Cousins. To truly get Slovenia's offense clicking enough to topple Team USA, the Dragic brothers will need to be able to score inside to send the defense scrambling. Then they can kick out to shooters and get some big shots to be less contested and fall in their favor.
Outlook for the game: Slovenia is fighting an uphill battle. It's hard to know what we can glean from the exhibition these two teams played before the World Cup started, but Slovenia's pace seemed to be right up Team USA's alley. USA should win once again and play the winner of Turkey vs. Lithuania.
SERBIA vs. BRAZIL -- Wednesday, 12:00pm ET
How did Serbia get here? Serbia finished fourth in Group A with a 2-3 record, which set them up for a Round of 16 match against unbeaten Greece. Greece rolled through Group B with a perfect 5-0 record heading into this game. Through the first half of Serbia vs. Greece, it was a tough, well-fought contest. Greece trailed Serbia by just four points at halftime, before Serbia blew the game wide-open with a big performance from Bogdan Bogdanovic and the Serbian defense.
Serbia shot 54.2 percent from the field and couldn't be stopped inside or out. Bogdanovic finished with 21 points on 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range. As he bombed away from outside, Serbia's defense held Greece to just 30 points in the second half. Milos Teodosic and Nikola Kalinic both had phenomenal, effective games for Serbia. They rolled in the second half to a 90-72 win.
How did Brazil get here? Brazil went 4-1 in Group A play with their only loss coming at the hands of the unbeaten Spain team. That set them up with a South American showdown against Argentina in the Round of 16. Argentina looked ready to play in the first quarter, holding Brazil to just 13 points and leading by eight after one. Then the floodgates opened from Brazil and the drought for Argentina began. Raul Neto dominated the game for Brazil in a surprise performance.
Neto finished with 21 points on 9-of-10 from the field. He set the tone for the quick, easy scoring of Brazil past the first quarter as they dominated the rest of the game 72-44 for an 85-65 victory. They held Luis Scola to just eight points on 2-of-10 shooting, and outrebounded Argentina 39-26. Pablo Prigioni led Argentina with 18 points, but couldn't get enough help scoring the ball or making plays for the rest of the team.
Key match-up: Leandro Barbosa vs. Bogdan Bodganovic. These two teams are an interesting match-up for each other. Serbia has an underrated frontcourt that has performed well in this tournament. Brazil is full of NBA big men with Nene, Tiago Splitter, and Anderson Varejao. But what could end up determining who wins this game is whether or not Barbosa (or even Neto or Marcelinho Huertas) can keep up with the scoring of Bogdanovic. Bogdanovic has lit up the competition in most of his team's six games and will either need to be stopped (seems unlikely) or matched. One of the perimeter players from Brazil has to step up in the scoring role.
Outlook for the game: Brazil should be the favorite to win this game. They're playing great basketball, coming off a great victory over a rival in Argentina, and have more talent from top to bottom. But Serbia has been trading haymakers with tough opponents all tournament. We should see another tight game like Brazil's 81-73 victory over Serbia in group play. Winner faces the winner of Spain vs. France.
FRANCE vs. SPAIN -- Wednesday, 4:00pm ET
How did France get here? France finished third in Group A behind Spain and Brazil with a 3-2 record. They earned a Round of 16 match-up with Croatia in the process. Croatia gave them fits in a pretty ugly, low-scoring game too. Neither team shot well from 3-point range and both teams missed one-third of their free throw attempts. Only Turkey vs. Australia was a lower scoring game in the Round of 16. France had just enough balance and passing in their attack to lead them to the 69-64 victory over Croatia.
It was truly a team effort and battle for France. Boris Diaw only scored three points but managed five of the team's 15 assists. Nicolas Batum couldn't get going but still finished with 14 points. Thomas Huertel chipped in 10 points and four assists. And Evan Fournier had 13 points, tying his highest output for the tournament. They survived Bojan Bogdanovic's 27 points and Ante Tomic's 17 points to shut down the rest of Croatia.
How did Spain get here? By doing what they do -- dominating. Spain went unbeaten in the top-heavy Group A and had the second highest point differential of the tournament. That earned them a Round of 16 game against Senegal. While Senegal has been a great story for the tournament, the end of the story came against Spain's incredible basketball machine. They were surgical and unfair in the way they picked apart Senegal's frontcourt. Marc Gasol shut down Gorgui Dieng and the rest was just talent and system winning out.
Considering the limited minutes this deep rotation played, the box score lines were impressive. Pau Gasol had 17 points on 8-of-10 shooting (both misses coming from 3-point range), five rebounds, and three blocks in 24 minutes. Marc Gasol had nine points, six rebounds, four assists, and four blocks in 25 minutes. Ricky Rubio had seven points, six assists, five rebounds, and five steals in just 20 minutes. Serge Ibaka had 11 points, six rebounds, and three blocks in 17 minutes. Jose Calderon had 11 points in 13 minutes and Felipe Reyes had 11 points in 12 minutes. Spain cruised to the 89-56 victory.
Key match-up: The battle of the backcourts. Spain's backcourt is beyond deep. They roll out six very capable, NBA-caliber guards with Jose Calderon, Sergio Rodriguez, Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez, and Sergio Llull. France is missing Tony Parker in this tournament and will need even bigger efforts than we've seen out of Antoine Diot and Thomas Huertel. Nicolas Batum will have to join them in being playmakers and scorers, and he'll have to shut down Navarro as much as he can while also helping against the interior. Emotions will be high.
Outlook for the game: Spain will face a tough match-up here with France, but much like they handled them in the second half of their 88-64 victory in group play, Spain should be able to dominate key stretches of this game. Winner faces the victor of Serbia vs. Brazil.
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