VIVA Espana! Asia on its mind.
After winning its first-ever gold in Saitama, Japan in 2006, Spain is back in the 18th FIBA World Cup throne with a masterful 95-75 decision over erstwhile unbeaten Argentina in the finals at the Wukesong Sport Center in Beijing, China.
Six players scored in double digits for the Spanish, who completed the quadrennial 32-nation competitions with a perfect 8-0 record.
Incoming Phoenix Suns playmaker Ricky Rubio led the way with 20 points.
An eight-year NBA vet for the Spaniards, the 6-foot-4 Rubio earned tournament MVP honors with averages of 16.4 points, 6.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals in eight appearances.
Argentina (7-1) settled for the silver medal for a second time in the 69-year history of the FIBA World Cup (which was formerly known as the World Basketball Championship from 1950 to 2010 before it was renamed as such in 2014 in Madrid, Spain), duplicating its feat in 2002.
The Argentines topped the inaugural edition in 1950 on their home soil with a 64-50 win over the United States in the finals.
In the bronze medal game, France (6-2) overcame a 30-21 halftime deficit to beat Australia (6-2), 67-59, behind Nando De Colo’s 19 points.
It was sweet revenge for the Les Bleus, who earlier were beaten by the Boomers, 100-98, in second-round play.
France claimed its second straight bronze medal in the World Cup, duplicating the feat of its 2014 counterparts, who edged Lithuania, 95-93, in the third-place contest that year.
During the knockout semifinals, Spain outlasted Australia, 95-88, in the first double-overtime game in the medal round in World Cup history, and Argentina whipped France, 80-66.
Serbia (6-2), a pre-tournament title contender, ranked fifth with a 90-81 victory over the Czech Republic.
The United States (6-2) downed Poland (4-4), 87-74, to settle for seventh place, its lowest finish ever in World Cup or Olympic competitions with NBA players on its roster.
Before their home crowd in Indianapolis during the 2002 edition, the Americans wound up sixth after it dropped three of their final four games (losing to Argentina in the second round, Yugoslavia in the knockout quarterfinals and Puerto Rico in the 5th-place game) to finish with a 6-3 record.
Under first-time international head coach Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, the Star Spangled Banner unit lost twice consecutively — against France, 89-79, in the quarterfinals that shattered its bid for an unprecedented third straight WC gold medal and against Serbia, 94-89, in the Classification Round for 5th to 8th places, both of which were single-elimination games.
The loss to the French marked the first time that Team USA failed to capture a gold at a major international tournament since the 2006 FIBA World Cup. It had won 58 consecutive tournament games in FIBA and Olympic competitions with NBA players, starting with the bronze-medal game at the 2006 WC and continuing through every FIBA Americas, World Cup and Olympic event since.
Regardless, the U.S. had clinched a berth in the 12-nation men’s basketball tournament in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics even before the quarterfinal playoffs in the recent World Cup that guaranteed seven berths to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics plus host Japan.
Two teams from the Americas were automatic qualifiers — topnotcher Argentina and the U.S. Another pair — Spain and France — secured berths from Europe.
The three other continents got one direct Olympic ticket each — Oceania (Australia), Asia (Iran) and Africa (Nigeria).
The four other Olympic slots will be determined through four pre-Olympic qualifying tournaments in different sites next year with six teams per tournament.
Rubio, the second Spanish player to earn the World Cup MVP award after incoming Portland Trail Blazers center Pau Gasol in 2006, headed the 2019 WC All-Tournament Team. Joining him are Rubio’s national teammate, NBA titlist Toronto Raptors’ Marc Gasol (averages of 14.4 pp, 5.5 rpg and 4.1 apg, including seven handouts in the finals), Argentina’s 39-year-old frontliner Luis Scola (17.9 ppg and 8.1 rpg), Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic (tournament-highest 183 points in eight games, 22.9 ppg on .556 overall field goal clip, including .530 from three-point range, along with 4.4 assists and 4.1 rpg), and France’s Evan Fournier (19.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.0 apg).
The second gold-medal victory by Spain is extra special for the 7-foot-1, 34-year-old Gasol, a 21-year-old role player when Spain collected its first-ever WC gold in 2006, as he became only the second player in American cage annals to win the NBA title (with the Toronto Raptors last June following a February trade by the Memphis Grizzlies) and a World Cup gold in the same year.
The first to turn in the trick was Lamar Odom, who gained an NBA championship ring with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010 then helped Team USA secure the gold in the World Cup in Turkey months later.
The 2023 World Cup competitions will be jointly hosted by the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. The zonal qualifying games to the WC will be held in mid-July 2022.
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The remaining four berths to the men’s basketball tournament in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be filled up by the winner in each of the four pre-Olympic qualifying tournaments to be held in different sites next year.
Each tournament will feature six teams. The 16-best teams from the recent FIBA World Cup outside the ones that have clinched automatic spots (1-Spain, 2-Argentina, 3-France, 4-Australia, 7-United States, 17-Nigeria and 23-Iran plus host Japan) will see action in the Olympic qualifiers.
Additional entries will come from the top two teams from each region — Africa, Americas, Asia and Europe — according to the latest FIBA world rankings (after the World Cup results) for a total of 24.
The 16 next-best finishers are 5-Serbia, 6-Czech Republic, 8-Poland, 9-Lithuania, 10-Italy, 11-Greece, 12-Russia, 13-Brazil, 14-Venezuela, 15-Puerto Rico, 16-Dominican Republic, 18-Germany, 19-New Zealand, 20-Tunisia, 21-Canada and 22-Turkey.
In the Asian wildcards, China has the inside track, currently ranked 30th with two victories in the WC. South Korea, one ranked lower than the Philippines at 32nd place, is expected to go up with one WC win. Jordan, at No. 49, also posted a win in the WC and may challenge the Sokors for the second Asian wildcard berth.
The Philippines? Maybe if China or South Korea declines, it can yet slip in.
Then again, the qualifiers themselves may be an exercise in futility for Asian teams as they are dominated by tough European teams.
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