By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Team USA ended its’ FIBA World Cup campaign with a win against Poland, 87-74, placing them in the seventh spot, their worst finish in international basketball stints.
Although disheartened by their back to back losses against France in the quarterfinals and Serbia in the classification, the USA squad still played with passion and entered the court with their heads held high.
Khris Middleton’s hot shooting led the Americans with 13 points, followed by Derrick White’s 12 points who was relentless in his drives to the rim.
Poland fought and was able to match the American squad’s firepower, pounding it inside the paint against the smaller USA team.
Despite the disappointing finish, USA head coach Gregg Popovich still coached the same way he did the first games with his guys, pulling out those who demanded the ball and refused to swing the extra pass for a better shot.
After the game, Popovich was interviewed with how he feels about the worst finish in their history.
“There’s no blame to be placed anywhere. They play the shame game, like we should be ashamed because we didn’t win a gold medal? That’s a ridiculous attitude. It’s immature. It’s arrogant. And it shows that whoever thinks that doesn’t respect all the other teams in the world and doesn’t respect that these guys did the best they could.” Popovich said.
The USA squad will head home to their respective NBA teams in preparation for the upcoming season.
