Kyrie Irving caught the hot hand draining six three-point shots and scoring 26 points to help USA defeat Serbia in the FIBA World Cup Championship game, final score 129-92. Team Serbia came into the tournament with a 2-3 Group Play record but quickly surprised many during the tournament where they defeated Greece and France.
In the end the Americans we’re simply too much for Serbia who failed to keep up with arsenal of talent coach Mike Krzyzewski threw their way — primarily the USA point guards. Tournament MVP Kyrie Irving led all scorers (26 points, four assists) while James Harden added a second best 23 points, two assists.
This victory marks 63 consecutive wins for the U.S.A. team — 45 in official FIBA events and 18 in exhibition play, allowing the U.S. men’s an automatic qualification for the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.
The Americans now have their fifth title, tying Yugoslavia for the most all-time.This also marks the second gold medal for U.S. players Derrick Rose, Rudy Gay, and Stephen Curry.
Personally I am a bit surprised by Irving being named Tournament MVP when in fact Anthony Davis and Kenneth Faried were the overall best and most consistent players on the team during both group play and tournament play, None-the-less, this team dominated the competition in convincing fashion and never showed any significant signs of adversity, you could almost argue that FIBA 2014 World Cup was too easy, even for a young group of NBA superstars — many of which are experiencing their first taste of international competition.
I don’t think anyone ever doubted this team as they entered Group play defeating teams by double-digits every game, but there are many who believe the U.S. should stop sending superstars to compete in international play. We should tread lightly on such statements and be careful what we wish as the results may not be pretty. As for now we should congratulate the USA Mens team for proudly representing their country.
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