ليتوانيا تصعد إلى المربع الذهبي لمونديال السلة

تغلب منتخب ليتوانيا على نظيره التركي 73/61 ليصعد إلى المربع الذهبي لكأس العالم لكرة السلة باسبانيا.

 

وسجل رينالدس سيبوتيس ومارتي بوسيوس وداريوس لافرينوفيتش ثلاث رميات ثلاثية لكل منهم، فيما سجل سيبوتيس بمفرده 19 نقطة لمنتخب ليتوانيا مقابل11 نقطة لزميله لافرينوفيتش و13 نقطة لبوسيوس، فيما سجل يوناس فالانسيوناس 12 نقطة و13 متابعة.

 

ومثلما حدث في كأس العالم 2010، نجح منتخب ليتوانيا في الصعود إلى المربع الذهبي، ليلتقي مع الفائز من المباراة الأخرى بدور الثمانية والتي تجمع بين أمريكا وسلوفينيا.

 

وفي حال صعد المنتخب الأمريكي إلى دور الأربعة ، فإنه سيكون تكرار لسيناريو المربع الذهبي لكأس العالم بتركيا قبل أربعة أعوام حينما فازت أمريكا على ليتوانيا في طريقها نحو اللقب، بينما حصلت ليتوانيا على المركز الثالث.

 

ولم ينجح المنتخب التركي في تكرار انجازه في 2010، حين خسر أمام أمريكا في النهائي، رغم تسجيل كريم جونلوم 13 نقطة وتسع متابعات وتسجيل عمر اسيك 11 نقطة وعشر متابعات.

أمريكا وليتوانيا تتأهلان لقبل نهائي مونديال السلة

ألقت الولايات المتحدة المدافعة عن اللقب في فوزها 119-76 على سلوفينيا بينما تغلبت ليتوانيا على تركيا 73-61 أمس الثلاثاء ليضرب الفريقان موعدا مثيرا في قبل نهائي كأس العالم لكرة السلة.

وستلتقي اسبانيا صاحبة الضيافة مع فرنسا بطلة اوروبا وتلعب البرازيل ضد صربيا الحصان الاسود في المباراتين الأخريين بدور الثمانية في مدريد اليوم الاربعاء.

وحافظ الفريق السلوفيني على تماسكه في النصف الأول من اللقاء أمام منافسه الامريكي الذي كان متقدما 49-42 فقط مع نهاية الفترة الأولى في ظل تألق دومين لوربيك.

وبدا الفريق الامريكي حامل اللقب وكأنه لا يبذل أي جهد في النصف الأول وأهدر القائد جيمس هاردن أول سبع تصويبات له بينما كافح صانع اللعب كلاي طومسون ولاعب الارتكاز القوي انطوني ديفيز ليبقيا على الولايات المتحدة في المقدمة.

لكن المباراة كانت من جانب واحد في النصف الثاني وبلغت الولايات المتحدة قمة مستواها وسجل ستة لاعبين عشر نقاط أو أكثر. وأحرز طومسون 20 نقطة وهو أعلى المسجلين في المباراة بينما أضاف كل من هاردن وكينيث فاريد 14 نقطة.

وبعد أن جاء الى اسبانيا وهو يغيب عنه أبرز لاعبي دوري كرة السلة الامريكي الذين رفضوا تلبية الدعوة أبدى مايك شيشفسكي مدرب الولايات المتحدة سعادته بالاداء.

وقال في مؤتمر صحفي "لعبنا بقوة لكننا فقط لم نستطع انهاء الأمر في الشوط الأول وبعد ذلك بدأ السيل."

وأضاف "لسنا فريقا لا يقهر بدون شك ولهذا السبب أنا سعيد بالطريقة التي تعاملنا بها مع الأمر. في المعتاد نشعر بالاحباط لكننا حافظنا على الهدوء ونحن ناضجون."

وتابع "نعلم من تجاربنا السابقة أن الأمر ليس سهلا في وجود فريق شاب."

واحتاجت ليتوانيا بطلة اوروبا السابقة - التي احتلت المركز الثالث في بطولة العالم 2010 - الى اداء قوي في الربع الأخير لتتفوق على تركيا التي بدأت المباراة بقوة وتقدمت 14-6.

وعاد الفريق الليتواني للقاء بفضل قوته في التصويبات بعيدة المدى وسجل الفريق عشر تصويبات ثلاثية من 19 محاولة ليقلب تأخره 40-36 في بداية النصف الثاني من اللقاء الى تقدم لا يمكن تعويضه بفارق 12 نقطة في المراحل الأخيرة.

وقاد صانع اللعب رينالداس سيبوتيس ليتوانيا وسجل 19 نقطة وأضاف مارتيناس بوشيوس 13 نقطة بينما أحرز لاعب الارتكاز طويل القامة يوناس فالاتشيوناس 12 نقطة واستحوذ على 13 كرة مرتدة. 

France grab third place with win over Lithuania

French forward Michael Gelabale (2-R) and his teammates pose with their bronze medals France finished on the podium of a FIBA's main event for the first time as they beat Lithuania 95-93 on Saturday to grab third place at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. In a re-match of the 2013 EuroBasket final, Nicolas Batum scored a team-high 27 points for the reign European champions France while Joffrey Lauvergne and Thomas Heurtel both added 13 points. France made nine of 10 free throws in the final 15.2 seconds to secure the victory. France secured their best showi at the Worlds, moving up one spot from their fourth place performance in 1954. Lithuania came into the game hoping to repeat their third place from 2010, when they beat Serbia. But 25 points and nine rebounds from Jonas Valanciunas and 14 from Adas Juskevicius were not enough. Lithuania started cold and France jumped ahead 7-2. A 7-0 Lithuania run was answered by six straight France points and Les Bleus were up 13-9. They led 22-19. France got the lead back to five points at 34-29 and never trailed in the second quarter, going into the break up 43-42. Lithuania began to gain some separation in the third quarter, opening a 62-54 margin and leading 71-64 after 30 minutes. France used an 13-4 run to start the fourth quarter and grab the lead 77-75. Valanciunas scored five straight points to give the Baltic side the lead but two Boris Diaw baskets and two Heurtel free throws helped the French to an 86-80 lead inside the final minute. France stayed cool at the free throw line down the stretch to take third. The final between Serbia and the undefeated reigning champions United States will be played on Sunday.

Serbia beat Brazil second time around, reach semis

Serbia's players celebrate during their Basketball World Cup quarter-final game against Brazil Serbia showed the second time's the charm in beating Brazil 84-56 on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Milos Teodosic poured in 23 points, Bogdan Bogdnovic had 12 and both Miroslav Raduljica and Nenad Krstic had 10 points in the win for Serbia, who lost to Brazil 81-73 in group play earlier at the World Cup. "We played like a team and really had a strong second half. I think we deserved this win," said Raduljica. In the semis, Serbia will face on the winner of Wednesday's later quarter-final between France and hosts Spain in Madrid. Anderson Varejao and Marquinhos Vieira both had 12 points for Brazil, who failed to reach the top four of the Worlds for their seventh straight tournament. Serbia got some great play from Teodosic in the first quarter in building a five-point lead, which was 21-17 after one quarter. Alex Garcia gave Brazil the lead 23-21 with two three-pointers but the Serbs responded with an 8-0 run. Brazil answered with a 9-0 spurt of their own before Serbia finished the first half with eight straight points and a 37-32 lead. Serbia came out strong after the break to take the third quarter 29-12 and never looked back.

Cavs to acquire Love in deal with T'Wolves - report

Cleveland Cavaliers first round pick Andrew Wiggins  The Cleveland Cavaliers have reached an agreement in principle to send first overall draft pick Andrew Wiggins and former top pick Anthony Bennett to the Minnesota Timberwolves for All-Star forward Kevin Love, according to a report. Cleveland will also send a protected 2015 first-round pick to Minnesota as part of a trade that was reported on the National Basketball Association's website on Thursday and cited league sources from an earlier Yahoo! Sports report. The addition of Love, who would team up with recently-signed four-time league most valuable player LeBron James, would further solidify the Cavaliers as a favourite to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. The deal cannot be finalized until Aug. 23, because Wiggins, the centerpiece of the package for Minnesota who was taken first overall by Cleveland in June, cannot be traded until one month following the signing of his rookie contract, the report said. Bennett, the first overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft, had a rough start to his rookie campaign with Cleveland but improved as the season progressed. He averaged 4.2 points and 3.0 rebounds in 52 games. According to the report, the Cavaliers are making the deal with Minnesota with a firm agreement that Love will opt out of his contract in 2015 and re-sign with the Cavaliers on a five-year, $120 million-plus contract extension. Love averaged 26.1 points per game, 12.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists last season for a Minnesota team that went 40-42 and was nine games back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference

Clippers' Rivers fined $25,000 for criticising officials

Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers  Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has been fined $25,000 by the National Basketball Association for public criticism of officiating, the league said on Thursday. Rivers said the Clippers got "robbed" of a win on Tuesday when a call went against them late in a 105-104 defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder that pushed them to the brink of playoff elimination. The Thunder, who were down seven points with 49 seconds to play, benefited from an official's call even though replays appeared to show the ball went out of bounds off their guard Reggie Jackson with 11.3 seconds left. The ball was awarded by officials to Oklahoma City, and they stuck with the initial ruling after the play was reviewed. The Thunder scored the last eight points of the game to snatch victory in front of a raucous home crowd and seize a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final. Rivers, a calm voice of reason throughout the Donald Sterling saga which has sparked widespread emotional debate and at times has distracted the Clippers players, unsuccessfully protested the call before criticising officials post-game. "It was our ball," Rivers told reporters. "Everybody knows it was our ball. The bottom line is they thought it was a foul and they made up for it. "In my opinion, let's take away the replay system. Because that's our ball, we win the game. We got robbed because of that call." On Wednesday, the NBA said the official's call in Tuesday's Game Five and the instant replay review would stand as given because there was no 'clear and conclusive' evidence to warrant a reversal. Later on Wednesday, during Clippers team practice, Rivers told reporters: "I was very upset last night, and rightly so, but you've got to move on." The Clippers will bid to stave of playoff elimination when they host the Thunder in Game Six on Thursday, a little more than two weeks after team owner Sterling was banned for life by the league and fined $2.5 million for making racist comments.

Miami's James rules with his basketball IQ

Miami Heat forward LeBron James  LeBron James dominated the game with 49 points, but the pass he made to key the Miami Heat's playoff win over the Brooklyn Nets revealed a hidden dimension - a chess master's genius for seeing several moves ahead in an instant. The muscular forward, whose skills, athleticism and versatility have brought him acclaim as the best basketball player in the world, was praised after Monday's game for his basketball "IQ" by Miami head coach Erik Spoelstra. "He was reading the game," Spoelstra said after the Heat's 102-96 victory gave Miami a 3-1 lead over the host Brooklyn Nets in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final. "And the biggest play of the game, after scoring that many points, was getting off the ball," the coach said about a pass James whipped outside to Mario Chalmers, who swung it to Chris Bosh for a three-pointer from the corner that snapped a 94-94 deadlock with 57 seconds left in the game. "He showed great poise and trust. It was a basketball play. That's what makes him unique." James, a four-time NBA most valuable player, had done most of the scoring all night, taking charge from the top of the key and consistently getting into the paint for layups or challenging defenders in order to get to the free throw line. This time, James received the ball in the lane but instantly recognized the winning play. "People are always talking about my basketball IQ," he said softly after the game, looking bookish with his wire-rimmed glasses in contrast to his glaring, inflamed image on court. "I see a lot going on in a game that I'm not sure if everyone sees." With a minute to go, James received a pass from Dwyane Wade in prime position in the lane, but rather than attack, he immediately sensed a better game plan. "The sequence went with me setting a high pick and roll for D-Wade and they kind of messed up the coverage, so D-Wade was able to hit me down the middle," explained James. "I went to attack (Kevin Garnett), who came off (Bosh) and I already knew exactly what was about to happen. "As soon as I saw KG rotate to me I threw it to (Chalmers) and I already knew it was going to find CB." The fact that Bosh had missed a pair of three-pointers earlier did not cause James, who tied his playoff career high with 49 points, to hesitate. "You make the right play every single time, make or miss," said James. "It's a numbers game. You live by it. You make the right play and live by the results." James said he is constantly making calculations. "There's a lot that goes through my mind throughout a basketball game. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, because there's so much I'm reading and reacting, and going through plays in my mind that hasn't even happened yet," he said. Spoelstra noted that James has taken some heat in the past for passing up crunch-time shots in favor of finding an open teammate, but the coach of the two-time defending NBA champions trusts in his star's choices. "That's what makes him the best player. Whatever's needed," said Spoelstra, whose team can advance to the Eastern Conference finals with a victory in Miami on Wednesday. "Sometimes that means facilitating and sometimes that means going out of the box and scoring 49."

U.S. ease past Lithuania into World Cup final

Klay Thompson of the U.S. attempts to steal the ball from Martynas Pocius of Lithuania  The United States breezed into the basketball World Cup final after a commanding performance by the holders who beat Lithuania 96-68 in a one-sided contest on Thursday. The Americans, who took a second-string team to the tournament in Spain, will head confidently into Sunday's showdown against either European champions France or upstarts Serbia who clash in the other semi-final on Friday. The Lithuanians were able to hold their own only in the opening five minutes, when some erratic shooting from the champions allowed the Baltic nation to take a 13-10 lead. But they had no reply for U.S. domination under the boards as the tournament favourites scored an avalanche of second-chance points from offensive rebounds. With a 43-35 halftime lead, the U.S. team shored up their defensive leaks after the interval and built a 76-49 advantage in the third quarter, when captain James Harden scored all of his 16 points. Guard Klay Thompson added as many while playmaker Kyrie Irving led the charge with 18 points and four assists.

New Knicks' coach Fisher eager to put shine back in Big Apple

Oklahoma City Thunder Derek Fisher (L) drives to the basket against Houston Rockets James Harden Derek Fisher is set to put a shine back in the Big Apple after being named Tuesday as head coach of the New York Knicks. Fisher was excited to re-join former LA Lakers coach and current Knicks president Phil Jackson in a determined effort to bring a much-needed winner back to the starving die-hard fans, just 10 days after completing his 18th NBA season with the Oklahoma City Thunder. "People come to this city for hundreds of years for an opportunity to do something special, bring something new," Fisher said. "I look forward to the opportunity to bring myself and my family into the family of New York City." He added: "Phil experienced it here as a player some 40 years ago. It is here, you experience the championship success, the great players and great coaches in this organization." The Knicks haven't won an NBA Championship since 1973. "We know without a doubt we can re-establish what that means, what that is. I'm excited. We want to add more banners to the ceiling here. We will be committed to being the best." Though no financial terms were released, Fisher reportedly signed a five-year, 25-million-dollar deal despite having no head coaching experience at any level. However, Fisher is rich in success, having won five Championship rings in the 10 seasons Jackson coached the LA Lakers. "I am experienced in playing, understanding, leading in, guiding in, helping another group of people to achieve the greatest gift in the world as a professional athlete and that's being a champion." Jackson focused on Fisher as the top coaching candidate to replace fired Mike Woodson after Steve Kerr unexpectedly changed his mind and turned down the offer to accept the same position with the Golden State Warriors three weeks ago. "Derek and I are very symbiotic in what we believe in," Jackson said. "Derek's a guy I used to get the team back under control when they got out of line. He was a guy that was always ready to sacrifice himself for the good of the team. That's one of the qualities of a coach that I've looked for in the past. And obviously, a guy who knows the system I like." Fisher will have a tall task to turn around an underachieving Knicks squad, who finished with a dismal 37-45 record and failed to make the playoffs last season. The new coach may be faced with the reality of losing superstar Carmelo Anthony to free agency this summer. "We're going to do our best to convince him or change his mind from maybe a decision he's already made," Fisher said. "But to give him some confidence that with the personalities involved and with our commitment of working hard to achieve a certain level of success that this is the place where he can have whatever he wants. "He's great and he deserves that. Hopefully, we can do that." Familiar with Jackson's famed triangle offence, Fisher is expected to install the system, though he may opt for set plays. "I've enjoyed tremendous success in the triangle system," he said. "I believe in it but it's not necessarily the only way to play basketball. We will do whatever is best for our players to be successful. "All I've heard is how great this city can be when they Knicks are winning. I've experienced it on the West Coast and I look forward to experiencing it on the East Coast." Former Knicks centre Bill Cartwright, who played under Jackson in Chicago, and former Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis are expected to join Fisher's staff.

أمريكا تعبر عقبة ليتوانيا وتتأهل لنهائي مونديال السلة

 تقدمت الولايات المتحدة حاملة اللقب لنهائي كأس العالم لكرة السلة بعد سيطرة كاملة أنهتها بالفوز على ليتوانيا 96-68 في مواجهة من جانب واحد اليوم الخميس.

وسيدخل الأمريكيون الذين يشاركون في البطولة باسبانيا بفريق من لاعبي الصف الثاني بثقة كبيرة ولا شك للمباراة النهائية يوم الأحد المقبل ضد فرنسا بطلة اوروبا أو صربيا اللتين ستلقيان في مباراة دور الأربعة الأخرى غداً الجمعة.

ولم يصمد الفريق الليتواني لأكثر من خمس دقائق قبل أن يبدأ في ارتكاب الأخطاء مستفيدا من تراجع الأداء الأمريكي لتتفوق ليتوانيا 13-10.

لكن الرد الأمريكي كان قوياً وسيطر الفريق البطل على اللعب تماما واستحوذ تماماً على الكرات المرتدة.

وبتقدمه 43-35 بنهاية الربع الثاني وسع الفريق الأمريكي الفارق إلى 76-49 في الربع الثالث الذي شهد 16 نقطة سجلها كلها القائد جيمس هاردن.

وأضاف كلاي تومسون عدداً مماثلاً من النقاط بينما أنهى صانع اللعب كاير إيرفنج المباراة برصيد 18 نقطة. 

العاهل الإسباني يحضر نهائي مونديال السلة رغم خروج بلاده

يحضر العاهل الإسباني الملك فيليبي السادس الاحد المقبل نهائي كأس العالم لكرة السلة بين المنتخب الأمريكي والفريق الفائز في لقاء اليوم بين فرنسا وصربيا.

وأكد القصر الملكي في بيان إن الملك فيليبي السادس سيحضر الاحد اللقاء الذي سيقام في قصر الرياضة باقليم مدريد.

وسبق لوالد فيليبي، الملك السابق خوان كارلوس أن حضر ثلاثة لقاءات خاضتها إسبانيا في هذه البطولة أمام إيران والسنغال، وفرنسا بالدور ربع النهائي يوم الأربعاء الماضي الذي خسره أصحاب الأرض.

وأجرى الملك السابق عقب اللقاء الاخير الذي شهد ايضا حضور الاميرة إلينا وابنها فيليبي خوان فرويلان، محادثة هاتفية بالمدرب خوان انطونيو اورينجا واللاعب باو جاسول لتشجيعهما رغم الهزيمة امام فرنسا.