The FIBA World Cup 2014 was held in Spain, where the United States won its fifth title. By reaching the final, Serbia returned to the big stage.
In addition to the great performances of the United States, a several other things were remembered. Spain was shockingly eliminated in the quarter-finals by France, while Finland received a wild-card in an unusual way.
24 participants
24 participants were at the tournament in Spain. Teams that qualified through the Eurobasket were France, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia. The United States arrived as Olympic champions, while Angola, Egypt and Senegal qualified from the African continent.
Oceania sent two representatives (Australia and New Zealand). Three teams from Asia went to Spain: Iran, the Philippines and South Korea. From the American continent, Mexico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico traveled to the FIBA World Cup 2014.
FIBA rounded up the participants in a specific way. They gave a “wild card” to four teams: Brazil, Finland, Greece and Turkey.
Angry Birds and a wild card for Finland in an incredible way
One of the most incredible stories in the history of the world cups took place half a year before the very beginning. It has already been mentioned which four national teams received a wild card, and one of them was Finland. Much more powerful nations such as Russia, Canada and China remained out.
It was Finland’s first participation in the World Cup, and they won it thanks to a mobile game. “Angry Birds” was one of the most popular games in the world at that moment, and guess what? The founders and owners are from the aforementioned Scandinavian country.
The owners of “Angry Birds” sent a tempting offer to FIBA, and it stated that the World Cup will be advertised through the game itself if they decide to send one of the four wild-cards to Finland.
In the end, FIBA and its first man at the time, Patrick Baumann, decided to accept the offer that came from Finland, and “Wolves” got a wild card. In this way, this Scandinavian country played in the World Cup for the first time in its history.
The shocking elimination of Spain in front of a full house in Madrid
Spain was one of the two biggest favorites for a gold medal before the FIBA World Cup 2014. Everyone saw the final against the United States as something that could not be missed. Simply put, on paper those two teams were miles ahead of everyone else. The Gasol brothers, Juan Carlos Navarro, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, Serge Ibaka, Sergio Llull… They were all there. For the clash against the USA and the title of world champion.
Unfortunately for “La Roja”, that final never came. France has been looking at Spain’s back for years. Defeat in the Eurobasket final in 2011, then elimination in the Olympic Games quarter-finals a year later, and let’s remember the European Championship quarterfinals from 2009. In those years, these two national teams played against each other very often and the epilogue would always be the same. Spain would celebrate.
And then in two years, France charged them for everything. Double! Admittedly, the prerequisite was that the main “bully” Sergio Scariolo leave the Spain national team after the Olympics 2012. The Virtus head coach was not at the helm of “La Roja” in 2013 and 2014, and the “Blues” used that to their advantage. The team built around the Gasol brothers was led by Juan Antonio Orenga. Apart from working in youth selections, he did not have much experience and the much more experienced Vincent Collet outsmarted him twice.
First, in 2013, on the way to the first and only gold at the Eurobasket, France eliminated Spain in the semifinals by 75:72. And then a year later in Madrid they served the most painful defeat in the history of the Spanish national team. France came to Mundobasket with their B team. Without Tony Parker, Alexis Ajinca, Nando De Colo and Kevin Seraphan. But there was veteran Boris Diaw and the always dangerous Nicolas Batum. It is Diaw who will probably play the most important game of his career (not only in the context of points) and will take France to the semi-finals on his back.
How much of a favorite Spain was is best shown by the fact that bookmakers gave 1.05 odds for their win, while the triumph of France was “paid” with 13.50. Something similar will be offered for the Spain-Ivory Coast game as part of the upcoming Mundobasket first round.
In the group stage of this same tournament, Spain demolished France by 88:64. Exactly seven days later in an incomparably more important clash, the final score was 65:52 in favor of France. Shock, tears and disbelief in the eyes of all 13 thousand fans in Madrid, along with all those who were on and around the bench of Spain.
The return of Serbia
Until the FIBA World Cup 2010 in Turkey and the fourth place, Serbia did not achieve significant results for years. Few expected that the “Eagles” would make this kind of progress at this tournament.
Aleksandar Djordjevic took over as head coach before the FIBA World Cup 2014. The group was already challenging from the beginning. Reigning European champion France, host Spain and Brazil with a lot of NBA experience all outplayed Serbia. The victories were achieved against two relatively weak opponents (Iran and Egypt) for fourth place.
And from the round of 16, a raspodia followed. Serbia first destroyed Greece by 90:72 in a game where Nikola Kalinic had a spectacular dunk over Ioannis Bourousis. A few days later, Brazil was avenged and humiliated (84:56) and then a duel with France.
The French were visibly exhausted after the aforementioned clash against Spain, which Serbia used to gain an early advantage. They even had 15-point lead in the fourth quarter, but Nicolas Batum (35 points overall) led the comeback. The Eagles, however, withstood all the challenges and won by 90:85.
Fifth title for the United States
The United States went to this championship with an extremely talented roster and they justified their role as favorites. The team was full of NBA superstars.
Steph Curry, Derrick Rose, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, DeMar DeRozan and Anthony Davis were part of an extraordinary team. The United States strolled to the title.
They lifted the cup without experiencing defeat. Finland, Turkey, New Zealand, Ukraine and the Dominican Republic were outplayed in the group stage. Mexico was beaten in the round of 16, Slovenia was humiliated in the quarterfinals, and a solid Lithuanian team was defeated in the semifinals.
There was no drama in the final game either. The USA easily defeated Serbia by 129:92 and thus won the fifth world championship title.
MVP and All-Tournament Team
Fully deserved, Kyrie Irving was the MVP of the FIBA World Cup 2014. Although he averaged only 12 points, he finished the final game with 26. He was also the top scorer of his team against Lithuania with 18 points.
A place in the All-Tournament team was found by: Pau Gasol (Spain), Kenneth Faried (USA), Milos Teodosic (Serbia), Nicolas Batum (France) and Kyrie Irving (USA).