THE 2013 FIBA Asia Men’s Basketball Championship are over but let us revisit some of the outstanding performances during the biennial continental competitions held in Manila from August 1-11.
Unquestionably, man-mountain Hamed Haddadi of the unbeaten gold medalist Islamic Republic of Iran (9-0) was the best player in the FIBA Asia tournament that rewarded three tickets to the FIBA World Cup in Madrid, Spain next year.
A five-year National Basketball Association veteran (2008-13) with the Memphis Grizzlies and Phoenix Suns, the lumbering 7-foot-2 Haddadi ranked first in the 15-nation tourney in point production with an 18.8-point average in nine appearances, having made .623 of his attempts from the field.
Haddadi was one of only two men to collect at least 30 points in a single game, the other being Wang Zhizhi of deposed titlist People’s Republic of China.
The 28-year-old Haddadi chalked up 30 markers in the Iranians’ 76-65 conquest of South Korea on the second day of action. Wang, a fading 7-foot, 36-year-old frontliner from Beijing who made NBA history in April 2001 when he suited up for the Dallas Mavericks to become the first player from Mainland China, torched Jordan for 33 points in a 79-76 victory during the classification phase for fifth to eight places.
Haddadi also shared first place in the rebounding category for players with at least four games played. He normed 10 boards an outing, including 16 (along with 29 points) in the 85-71 finals win over the Philippines that sealed Iran’s third FIBA Asia crown in the past four stagings. Mohammed Almarwani of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also owned a 10-rebound average in four games.
Former Team Pilipinas recruit Chester (CJ) Giles of Bahrain actually registered a higher clip at 14.7 rpg (along with 14.3 ppg) but he appeared in just three games due to an injury. No other player was in double digits in boardwork.
A total of 37 players with at least four games averaged at least 10 points during the FIBA Asia tournament. Following Haddadi, the others in the Top 10 scoring were China’s Yi Jianlian (5 games, 17.4 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.6 apg), Qatar’s Jarvis Hayes (6 g, 16.7 ppg), KSA’s Ayman Almuwallad (4 g, 15.3 ppg), Chinese-Taipei’s Quincy Davis (9 g, 14.7 ppg), Jordan’s Jimmy Baxter (9 g, 14. 1 ppg), China’s Wang Zhizhi (9 g, 13.4 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 1.4 apg), India’s Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (8 g, 13.1 ppg), Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Yevstigneyev (7 g, 12.9 ppg) and Iran’s Samad Nikkah Bahrami (9 g, 12.8 ppg, 4.2 apg, 3.2 rpg).
Other double-figure scorers included South Korea’s Kim Mingoo (9 g, 12.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.7 apg), Jordan’s Mohammad Hadrab (8 g, 12.5 ppg), Kazakhstan’s Jerry Jamar Johnson (8 g, 12.3 ppg), Bahrain’s Mohamed Alderazi (8 g, 12.3 ppg), South Korea’s Cho Sungmin (9 g, 12.3 ppg), Japan’s Kosuke Kanamaru (7 g, 12.1ppg), the Philippines’ Marcus Eugene Douthit (8 g, 11.9 ppg), the Philippines’ Jayson Castro William (9 g, 11.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.0 apg), Hong Kong’s Duncan Overbeck Reid (7 g, 11.7 ppg), Bahrain’s Ahmed Ismaeel (5 g, 11.6 ppg), Jordan’s Wesam Al Sous (8 g, 11.6 ppg), Bahrain’s Husain Altawash (8 g, 11.1 ppg), Iran’s Hamed Afagh (9 g, 11.0 ppg), Japan’s Kosuke Takeuchi (7 g, 11.0 ppg), and India’s Narender Kumar Grewal (8 g, 11.0 ppg);
Chinese-Taipei’s Cheng Ju Lu (9 g, 10.8 ppg), Qatar’s Daoud Mosa Daoud (8 g, 10.8 ppg), KSA’s Marzouq Almuwallad (4 g, 10.8 ppg), KSA’s Mohammed Almarwani (4 g, 10.8 ppg), Chinese-Taipei’s Chih Chieh Lin (9 g, 10.7 ppg, 3.8 rpg, tournament third-best 4.9 apg), Qatar’s Yasseen Musa (7 g, 10.7 ppg), Iran’s Mahdi Kamrany (9 g, 10.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, tournament-high 6.6 assists, tournament-best 1.56 steals), Kazakhstan’s Rustam Yargaliyev (9 g, 10.3 ppg), China’s Wang Zhelin (9 g, 10.2 ppg, 6.0 rpg), Qatar’s Erfan Ali Saeed (6 g, 10.2 ppg), Japan’s Naoto Tsuji (6 g, 10.2 ppg), and Thailand’s Anasawee Klaewnarong (5 g, 10.0 ppg).
Douthit (11.9 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 1.6 apg, a tournament-best 2 blocked shots a game), who because of an injury was limited to two points, three rebounds and two blocked shots in 13 minutes during the Filipinos’ crucial 86-79 semifinal triumph over South Korea, was one of the eight naturalized players in the tournament.
The others were Chinese-Taipei’s Quincy Davis (14.7 ppg, 9.0 rpg, 1.22 bpg, 0.9 apg and a tournament-best .737 field-goal shooting), Kazakhstan’s Jerry Johnson (12.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg, tournament second-best 5.0 apg), Qatar’s Jarvis Hayes (16.7 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.3 apg), South Korea’s Lee Seung Jun/Eric Sandrin (9 g, 7.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 0.8 apg), Japan’s J.R. Sakuragi/J.R. Henderson (7 g, 9.6 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 2.3 apg), Bahrain’s Chester (C.J.) Miles (14.3 ppg, 14.7 rpg, 0.3 apg) and Jordan’s Jimmy Baxter (14.1 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.9 apg).
Legit NBA vets in the tournament were Haddadi, Hayes, Sakuragi, and China’s Wang, Yi and Sun Yue (9 g, 2.6 ppg, 2.2 rpg, 2.8 apg).Named to the 2013 FIBA Asia All-Tournament Team were Castro William of the Philippines and Kim Mingoo of South Korea at guard, Haddadi of Iran at center, and Lin of Chinese Taipei and Oshin Sahakian (9 g, 8.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.4 apg) of Iran at forward.
For the record, here are the final rankings in this year’s FIBA Asia Championships: 1-Iran (9-0), 2-Philippines (7-2), 3-South Korea (7-2), 4-Chinese-Taipei (6-3), 5-China (6-3), 6-Qatar (5-3), 7-Jordan (4-5), 8-Kazakhstan (3-6), 9-Japan (3-4), 10-Hong Kong (1-6), 11-India (2-6), 12-Bahrain (2-6), 13-Saudi Arabia (1-3), 14-Thailand (1-4) and 15-Malaysia (0-4).