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| It was a super final day of action in the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup! |
The Final Day of the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup in Wuhan, China
saw the Iranians run away with another crown, while the Philippines improbably
snatched third place after a scintillating endgame against the hosts.
In the first game, India had no trouble beating
Singapore for 7th place, 85-36. The Indians started the game strong and led all
the way, limiting the Singaporeans to a measly 13 points in the first 20
minutes of action. Amjyot Singh unloaded a monster of a game, scoring 30 points
on 12/15 FG shooting while also grabbing 7 rebounds and getting 5 steals.
Amritpal Singh backed him up with 13 markers, 10 boards, and 2 blocks, while
Narender Grewal contributed 14 points off the bench. Singapore, meanwhile, was
paced by Desmond Oh’s 13 points. This is the best-ever result for India in the
FIBA Asia Cup. They finished winless in four games in the previous edition in
2012.
In the second game, Japan was able to somewhat
contain Jordan’s big men, but Al Nashama’s wingmen took over in their victory,
79-72. This win gave coach Rajko Toroman’s squad fifth place overall. It was a
tight contest all throughout, with Japan leading at the half and then Jordan
taking the advantage heading into the fourth quarter. It was still a
nip-and-tuck affair early in the payoff period till Jordan unloaded a 10-4 run
midway to erect a 9-point advantage, 70-61, that they would never relinquish.
Rasheim Wright and Wesam Al-Sous each scored 17 points to lead the WABA
champions, while Ahmad Al-Dwairi pocketed 14 markers, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks,
and 2 steals in another sterling effort. The Takeuchi twins, Kosuke and Joji,
led the way for Team Hayabusa with a combined 31 points and 12 boards, while
Euro-based Takumi Ishizaki dropped a dozen markers and hauled down 7 caroms.
In the battle for third place, Gilas Pilipinas pulled
the rug from under hosts China with literally no time left to prevail, 80-79.
With time down to 3 seconds and the home squad up by two, LA Tenorio launched a
forward pass to Paul Lee, who was momentarily open from the left wing. Lee saw
two Chinese players closing in on him, and he faked them of their feet. Makan
Kelanbaike, who up until that point was the brightest spot for the Chinese,
caught Lee on the arm and was whistled for a shooting foul, awarding the Rain
or Shine playmaker with three pressure-packed free throws. Lee calmly sank all
three to break the Chinese’s hearts and notch the Filipinos’ first podium
finish in the biennial event. China led for most of the game here as Makan
waxed hot, hitting 5 triples on his way to 23 points. Gilas’s fightback, for
its part, was led by the 18 points of Ranide De Ocampo, who shot 3/3 from
beyond the arc. Marcus Douthit, meanwhile, bled for his 10 points, but he was
unstoppable on the glass, collaring 22 rebounds. LA Tenorio, Japeth Aguilar,
and Beau Belga all stepped up, too, combining for 36 points off the bench.
In the tournament’s final outing, Iran staved off a
game Taiwanese quintet to repeat as FIBA Asia Cup kings, 89-79. It was a close
contest for an entire half as the East Asians kept in step with the Iranians,
42-all, before Iran began to flex its muscle in the third canto behind the
great play of NBA draftee Arsalan Kazemi. Liu Cheng hit a buzzer-beating three
at the end of the third quarter to trim the deficit to just four points heading
into the final frame. Yohan Lalehzadeh’s two-point shot with under 8 minutes to
go gave Iran its first double-digit lead of the game, and they were in cruise
control from then on. Hamed Haddadi and Mohammad Jamshidi led the way for coach
Memi Becirovic’s team with 21 and 20 points respectively. Hadaddi also grabbed
8 rebounds, had 4 steals, and blocked 2 shots. Kazemi also performed well,
reeling in 14 markers, 10 boards, and 3 thefts. This is Iran’s third straight
FIBA Asia title after losing in the quarterfinals of the 2011 FIBA Asia Men’s
Championships, which was held on this very same floor. By virtue of this win,
Iran automatically qualifies for the 2015 FIBA Asia Men’s Championships.
As of this writing, no official All-Star Five has
been made public by FIBA Asia, but if I were to choose, I’d pick the following
as my personal Mythical First and Second Teams:
2014 FIBA
Asia Cup Mythical First Team:
C - Hamed Haddadi (IRI)
F - Tao Hanlin (CHN)
F - Liu Cheng (TPE)
G - Mohammad Jamshidi (IRI)
G - Paul Lee (PHI)
2014 FIBA
Asia Cup Mythical Second Team:
C - Ahmad Al-Dwairi (JOR)
F - Arsalan Kazemi (IRI)
F - Amjyot Singh (IND)
G - Gao Shang (CHN)
G - Rasheim Wright (JOR)
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| Gilas finishes on the FIBA Asia Cup podium for the first time. |
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| Taiwan gets its best FIBA Asia result in more than 50 years. |
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| Iran repeats as FIBA Asia Cup champions! |
BOX
SCORES:
Final Day:
INDIA over SINGAPORE, 85-36
IND 85 - Singh Amj 30, Grewal 14, Singh Amr 13, Singh Y 7,
Bhriguvanshi 6, Sivakumar 6, Mishra 5, Pethani 4, Singh J 0, Singh P 0, Pari 0
SIN 36 - Oh 13, Goh 8, Wong 6, Lim 4, Han 3, Low 2, Soo P 0,
Toh 0, Soo D 0, Ng S 0, Ng J 0
QS: 26-10,
49-13, 70-32, 85-36
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| Amjyot Singh seared Singapore with 30 points. |
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| Amritpal Singh launches his patented turnaround jumper. |
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| Li Shengyu of Singapore challenges India's trees. |
JORDAN over JAPAN, 79-72
JOR 79 - Wright 17, Al-Sous 17, Al-Dwairi 14, Al-Hamarsheh
11, Eid 6, Abdeen 5, Al-Awadi 5, Abu Ruqayah 4, Hussein 0
JPN 72 - Takeuchi K 20, Ishizaki 12, Takeuchi J 11, Hiejima
10, Okada 7, Harimoto 5, Tanaka 4, Ono 3, Ota 0, Shonaka 0, Kikuchu 0
QS: 23-21,
35-40, 55-53, 79-72
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| Ahmad Al-Hamarsheh wards off Atsuya Ota. |
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| Rasheim Wright led Jordan with 17 points. |
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| Takumi Ishizaki attacks the hole. |
PHILIPPINES over CHINA, 80-79
PHI 80 - De Ocampo 18, Aguilar 14, Tenorio 12, Douthit 10,
Belga 10, Lee 9, Lanete 3, Dillinger 2, Washington 2, David 0, Alas 0
CHN 79 - Makan 23, Gao 11, Tao 11, Zhou 10, Wang 9, Gu 7,
Zhang 6, He 2, Dong 0, Zhao 0, Cao 0
QS: 15-24,
38-44, 60-62, 80-79
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| Beau Belga was sharp, scoring 10 points off the pine. |
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| Gilas Pilipinas completed a monumental comeback against China. |
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| Makan Kelanbaike's 23 points were all in vain. |
IRAN over TAIWAN, 89-79
IRI 89 - Haddadi 21, Jamshidi 20, Kazemi 14, Mashayekhi 10,
Lalehzadeh 8, Sahakian 6, Yakhchali 4, Zangeneh 4, Arghavan 2
TPE 79 - Davis 19, Chen Y 16, Liu 12, Chou 8, Peng 7, Hu 6,
Chang 5, Lu 4, Chen H 2, Lee 0
QS: 26-21,
42-42, 66-62, 89-79
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| Hamed Haddadi saved his best for the final game. |
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| Lu Chi-Min unloads one from deep. |
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| Sajjad Mashayekhi gave a good account of himself as Iran's #1 PG in this tourney. |
Unless
otherwise specified, all images are from FIBA-Asia.
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