Day 6 of FIBA Recap 2010
Tunisia hung with a lethargic American squad in the first half, finding themselves down just six at the half. In fact, the US lead was just four points in the third quarter, before the rout was on. Tunisia was outscored 53-22 from that moment on, led by Kevin Durant and Eric Gordon. Durant hit numerous jumpers to kick-off the third and spark Team USA's run, while Gordon scored a team high 21 points, knocking down four 3s.
Team USA, the top overall seed in both Group B and in the tournament, will play Angola, the No. 4 seed in Group A on Monday.
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Canada finished their world tournament campaign winless, falling to Spain 89-67. Gonzaga's Kelly Olynyk has strung together some solid performances, using his size and skill to score both inside and out, in Team Canada's final few games, but unfortunately the Canadian program lacked team play and overall talent to compete.
Spain, on the other hand, has been underwhelming throughout the world tournament thus far, possessing superior talent to every country except the US. Rudy Fernandez had his best game of the five-game tournament so far, scoring a game-high 19 points, while big man Fran Vasquez, came off the bench and didn't miss a shot also scoring 19 points. Rikcy Rubio has been far from impressive to most scouts did score 8 points, albeit on 2-for-6 shooting, including just 1-of-4 from behind the international arc, but he did dish out 8 assists and grab 6 rebounds.
Lithuania finished group play undefeated by taking down Lebanon 84-66. With limited minutes needed from its starters, reserves Martynas Gecevicius and Tomas Delininkaitis came in to combine for seven 3s and 27 points.
In a battle between two of the strongest second-tier teams, Serbia edged Argentina by two, 84-82 in a game that was close the entire way. Serbia was sparked by their bench play of Dusko Savanovic (19 points) and Nenad Kristic (18 points and 8 rebounds). The two made up for a poor game by Kosta Perovic, the team's leading scorer in the tournament, who was able to score on just one basket. Argentina was again led by star forward, Luis Scola, who finished with 32 points and 7 rebounds. Unfortunately for Scola and Argentina, Carlos Delfino had another poor shooting performance, connecting on just five of his 15 shot attempts and playing all 40 minutes.
By Chris Andrews
