Huw Hopkins breaks down which countries are failing to meet expectations, who is living up to them and which nations are exceeding expectations at FIBA World Cup
Tuesday 3 September 2019 21:04, UK
Several countries have already booked their spot in the second round of the FIBA World Cup. Some teams have shown an ability to meet the expectations set at the start of the tournament, while others are struggling on the global stage. Huw Hopkins takes a look at how some key teams are performing.
Missing one of the best big men in the world, and the second-best player opts to stay away from the national squad to become acquainted with his new professional team: it looked unlikely that the Dominican Republic was ever going to live up to the expectations it had during the qualifying period.
There's no denying that the Dominicans benefited from being in one of the weaker groups, with France proving to be the only top-tier team. But a feisty Jordan, and a strong German squad that had high hopes coming into the tournament were never going to give any ground.
But you can only beat the teams that are in front of you, and the Dominican side performed well under pressure. Jordan couldn't keep their composure in a close-run game while Victor Liz sunk two free throws to go up by three points, and the team played tough defence in the closing moments against Germany to come away with an ugly victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Nobody is really expecting the Dominicans to beat France on Thursday, but advancing to the next round shows that this country has potential on the world stage, and if the team had a full representation of talent available, their future could be strong.
What first looked like it could be the Group Of Death at this year's FIBA World Cup has in truth been a slight disappointment. Senegal have shown they are not on the level of their opponents despite high hopes coming out of the African qualification stage. Canada have not had their best talent available and as a consequence are relying on young and unproven talent. Meanwhile, Australia and Lithuania have cruised to victories over their opponents, as one would suggest.
Both will advance to the second round with ease, but the real test comes in the final game of the first group stage when the two heavyweights face off one another to determine the seeding for the next round.
It's difficult to predict, but the game will be a fun clash. The sides have two of the top three big-man combinations at the World Cup, with Andrew Bogut and Aron Baynes suiting up for the green and gold, and Jonas Valanciunas and Domantas Sabonis roaming the paint for the European side.
Each team has hopes of winning a medal at the tournament, and Lithuania have so far done what they needed to do. The team has arguably looked better than the Australian side, Lithuania posting greater margins of victory over the weaker opponents in the group than the Boomers achieved.
The second round will be interesting as the two teams will meet again, and also face off against a strong French team and an upstart Dominican Republic.
Yes, the current incarnation of the Dream Team might be undefeated, and, yes, the two teams they have beaten - Turkey and Czech Republic - are the best in their group, but to steal a trope from the venerable Bill Simmons: are we sure the USA are good?
The greatest strength the Americans have is depth. In the game against Czechia, the Europeans stayed with the USA throughout the first quarter and beyond. The only time the team started to create much space was when Tomas Satoransky went to the bench. When the Chicago Bulls guard came back in the game, the USA's ability to balloon that lead slowed.
It was a similar story in the Turkey game. When the likes of Ersan Ilyasova, Cedi Osman or Furkan Korkmaz took a break, the Turkish offence slowed, but a good zone defence stifled the Americans' scoring prowess.
The United States has depth - the players on the bench could arguably replace the team in the starting five. But that starting unit is probably not the best in the tournament and has struggled to build up a convincing lead over any other in the tournament. When the red, white and blue come up against a serious team in the next few rounds, such as a scary-looking Serbia and a sleek-looking Spain, they will find a deeper, more organised opponent that could slow the USA down in the scoring column.
