Serbia or Germany: Who Will Take Home the FIBA World Cup Championship Trophy?
Manila, Philippines--The top 32 basketball teams in the world have battled it out in these games hosted by Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines with only two countries remaining to contend for the highly coveted Naismith trophy at the FIBA Basketball World Cup Finals this weekend.
Final four action concluded Friday night with Serbia outclassing an NBA-laden Canada squad, 95-86, led by Bogdan Bogdanovic who has been the team’s anchor despite the absence of Serbia mainstay and newly minted NBA champ Nikola Jokic. The Atlanta Hawks two-guard finished with 23 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals. Ognjen Dobric and Nikola Milutinov also each chipped in 16 points to help Serbia keep the Canadians at bay.
RJ Barrett led Canada on the scoreboard with 23 points while Dillon Brooks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander put up 16 and 15 respectively. It was Serbia limiting the Oklahoma City Thunder star to 10 points below SGA’s tournament average that proved to be one of the keys to the W and a ticket to the gold medal match.
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In the other semis match, the mighty United States of America fell to Germany, 113-111, to complete the cast of the much-anticipated finals match up, Germany’s first ever finals appearance scheduled for Sunday evening at the Mall of Asia Arena. The U.S. side, whose roster does not include any All-NBA awardees or players with previous experience in international competition, suffered an upset due in large part to Andreas Obst and Franz Wagner, who both combined for 45 points. Dennis Schroder also had an impressive night quarterbacking his team with a near-double-double with 17 points and nine assists.
No team has scored more points against a U.S. squad composed of NBA players than Germany did in this semifinal shocker. Anthony Edwards and Austin Reaves scored 23 and 21 respectively but their effort would not be enough to slow down the Nationalmanschaft. This was the second upset for the perennial favorites in this tournament after a loss to Lithuania in group action while Germany is the only undefeated team entering the finals with an unblemished record.
With the most prestigious title in international basketball on the line, FIBA has entrusted Swiss watch brand Tissot with the task of timekeeping these quadrennial games. As a sponsor and official partner of FIBA for the past 15 years, Tissot has been synonymous with precision and performance in international basketball’s biggest stage. As the official timekeeper of the FIBA Basketball World Cup since 2008, Tissot knows greatness takes time and come Sunday, we will finally know who will emerge as world champion. Will it be Serbia or Germany? Only time will tell.
