By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
The start wasn’t good once more, but order was restored before the end of the first quarter. Serbia got a 15-7 lead and USA reacted with a 15-0 run (22-15) and never looked back. Led by MVP Kyrie Irving, who had 15 points on the first half and finished the game with 26 points on 6/6 three pointers, and James Harden who had 23 points, the Americans got an illustrious 129-92 win in the final of World Cup 2014.
It was a game of records, as in total eight players of the winning team scored in double digits, USA had the best ever offensive performance in a quarter, by scoring 38 points in the third period, and became the first time in World Cups’ history which reaches the milestone of 100 points in 29 minutes of action.
Serbian Milos Teodosic, Frenchman Nicolas Batum, Spaniard Pau Gasol and of course American Kenneth Faried joined Irving in the all tournament team. Gasol is the only unhappy member of the five, as Spain couldn’t reach its goal in the tournemant, and for the winners this gold means a lot of things. As Steph Curry said: “Now after this gold medal, I would like also to add an NBA championship ring to my trophies”. For Derrick Rose, this gold medal can be a new start: “I would love this tournament to be a jump start for me and I hope to have a great season”.
MVP Kyrie Irving was more than happy: “This is by far the biggest accomplishment of my life. It’s amazing and I did it with a bunch of guys that I will call my brothers for the rest of my life”. And for coach Kryzewski this was also a tournament to remember: “This is been a great group to work with. I am proud of them, they stayed focused, they respected the process and as it turned out, the process was really good. I don’t see a gap with international basketball. The score indicates that it was a dominating performance, but we had to work. We always feel that we may lose the next game”.
From the Serbian side, captain Nenad Krstic announced that this final was his last game with the national team. Coach Djordjevic added: “We did our job, we played hard, but the Americans were better and I congratulate them. USA showed us that we must play quick and simple. We must also build our bodies in the gym”. And Miroslav Raduljica had one more thing to say: “We are just building a team, we went step by step and this is what we did. I am very proud for my teammates and coach. And we may lost the final, but my beard is still better than Harden’s”. And the final word for Milos Teodosic: “During those two weeks we showed how you should play for your country, but not in the final”.