The FIBA World Cup 2010 was held in Turkey. Kevin Durant was impressive, and Serbia was left without a deserved place in the final.
The United States won the title with a perfect record (9-0) and the team was led by the iconic “Coach K” – Mike Krzyzewski. The exceptional Luis Scola performances will also be remembered, but also the acting of Omer Asik when he deceived the referees in order to avoid shooting free throws, which was his weak point throughout his career.
Serbian national team played two historic games in this tournament. One of them was triumph against Spain in the quarter-finals after Milos Teodosic scored a three-pointer from 10 meters away over Jorge Garbajosa. Then they played the semi-final against the host Turkey, and were eliminated in a painful way after the referees made huge mistake.
Return to the Old Continent
After the previous two Mundobaskets were held on the territory of North America and Asia, Europe became the host for the FIBA World Cup for the fourth time in history. Games were played in Turkey. The first phase was divided into the cities of Ankara, Kayseri, Izmir and Istanbul. All the matches in the knock-out phase were scheduled in “Sinan Erdem Dome”.
For the second time in a row, 24 national teams competed at the World Cup. Turkey as host, United States as the Olympic Games champion, and then the six best teams from Europe: Serbia, Spain, France, Croatia, Greece and Slovenia.
The representatives of America were Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Puerto Rico. Iran, China and debutant Jordan arrived from Asia, while the “Dark Continent” was represented by Angola, Tunisia and Ivory Coast. Australia and New Zealand qualified from Oceania, and Russia, Germany, Lithuania and Lebanon concluded the list of participants.
Quarterfinals like a game for medal
The draw brought together Spain and Serbia in the quarter-finals. Dusan Ivkovic‘s young team against the reigning champions and an experienced team led by Sergio Scariolo. Jose Calderon and Pau Gasol led that generation of “La Roja”, but just a few days before the start of the World Cup, they withdrew due to justified reasons.
Everything came down to a thriller ending and one shot. Milos Teodosic took responsibility for at 89:89. He unexpectedly took a shot from 10 meters. Garbajosa played a good defense and was on the hand of the Serbian point guard, but the ball went through the hoop and in this way Serbia eliminated Spain.
Sideline out as the most painful wound of the Serbian national team
Turkey reached the semi-finals on their home court, and Serbia was waiting for them there. If that game against Spain was historic for the “Eagles” in a positive context, all the negative things manifested themselves against the hosts. The FIBA World Cup 2010 witnessed a refereeing mistake that will be remembered forever.
Everything came to a dramatic ending, when Kerem Tunceri stepped on the sideline out while dribbling. The referees did not see that, and one of the most experienced members of the Turkish national team continued the penetration and scored a buzzer-beater basket for a spot in the final game.
Serbia collapse, the first podium for Lithuania and the title after 16 years of “drought” for the United States
Serbia could not recover from the painful defeat in the semi-finals. The players talked about it a few years later. In the game for third place, Serbia was physically and emotionally drained, defeated by Lithuania after Linas Kleiza scored an impressive 33 points. In this way, Lithuania reached the podium at Mundobasket for the first time in its history and will surely remember the World Cup in Turkey forever.
When it comes to the final game, it was clear that the United States were the big favorite. Even the euphoria of home fans and the incredible self-confidence after win in the semi-final were not enough against everything that Kevin Durant and his team showed. The American “sniper” scored 28 points with five rebounds, but also hit seven long-range shots for a convincing 81:64 triumph.
MVP – Relentless Kevin Durant
Then the Oklahoma City Thunder player came to the FIBA World Cup 2010 after great success in the NBA. For the first time in his career, he made the All-NBA Team, and also wrote his name in history as the youngest player with the title of the best scorer in the NBA.
Kevin Durant played his best games at the Mundobasket when it mattered most. First, he scored 33 points in Russia in the quarter-finals, only to move the limit already on the next step against Lithuania. He scored 38 points with nine rebounds and then finished the job he started in the finals..
He averaged 22.8 points, ranking third in the tournament. To that he added six rebounds, 1.8 assists and almost two blocks per game on average. In the end, he set the record of the national team by scoring a total of 205 points in nine game, which no one in the United States history managed to do.
Luis Scola – “One man army”
The Argentinian center Luis Scola was 30 years old at the time and was showing incredible performances. He did this in the Argentine national team many years later, but in 2010 he led the team with 27.1 points, eight rebounds and even 57% of the shots from the field.
Although his individual statistics were crowned by the All-Tournament Team, Argentina failed to profit on that. The Lithuanian basketball school found a solution for Scola in the quarter-finals, which was also his weakest game in the tournament. Argentina ended up in fifth place behind the United States, Turkey, Lithuania and Serbia.
Without the biggest stars in the United States
When you look at it on paper, the United States were nowhere near its best roster at that point. The team consisted of several future NBA stars, and the balance was made by veterans Chauncey Billups and Lamar Odom.
The rest of the team, along with the aforementioned tandem and Durant, consisted of Derrick Rose (21), Russell Westbrook (21), Eric Gordon (21), Kevin Love (21), Stephen Curry (22), Rudy Gay (23), Andre Iguodala (26), Tyson Chandler (27) and Danny Granger (27).
All-Tournament Team
Interestingly, there was one player from each of the five first-placed teams in the All-Tournament Team. Kevin Durant as MVP and trophy winner with the United States led the team. There was Hidayet Turkoglu from the Turkish national team, Linas Kleiza represented Lithuania, Milos Teodosic represented Serbia, and the final member was Argentina’s Luis Scola.