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| Tuesday, August 27 Updated: August 29, 4:32 PM ET Retracing World Championships history Associated Press |
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Here's a look at each of the 13 men's basketball World Championships.
More than 25,000 people packed the arena at Luna Park for the gold medal game between the inaugural tournament's only unbeaten teams -- the United States and Argentina. Seven U.S. players fouled out in the title game and the team played the final 90 seconds with just four players on the court as Argentina won 64-50, scoring half its points from the free throw line while the U.S. team made 14 foul shots. The United States was represented by the Denver Chevrolets, an AAU team, with John Stanich leading the way with a 7.0 scoring average.
The United States, represented by the three-time AAU champion Peoria Caterpillars, dominated the competition, winning its nine games by an average of 25 points. Again, the title game was the United States against the host country, but this time the sellout crowd of more than 15,000 left disappointed. Bertram Born became the first U.S. player to average in double figures in the World Championships, leading the team at 11.2.
The tournament was held months behind schedule because of construction problems at the new 30,000-seat open-air arena. The delay meant it would be played in January, the middle of the basketball season in the United States. After originally declining to play, the United States sent a team of members of the U.S. Air Force. In addition to the final loss to Brazil, the United States was beaten 62-37 by the Soviet Union, its first win over a U.S. team in international competition. Dick Welsh led the United States in scoring at 16.0, one of three players to average in double figures. This was the first World Championships to have political problems as the Soviet Union and Bulgaria refused to play Formosa, forcing FIBA to declare the two countries ineligible for the final round because of the forfeits.
Brazil was able to please the huge home crowds this time, clinching its perfect record with an 85-81 victory over the United States and repeating as world champion. Yugoslavia's silver medal, which was set with a 69-67 win over the Soviet Union, started a string of eight straight medal performances. The United States was comprised of a team of AAU and college players, including future NBA players Willis Reed, Don Kojis and Lucious Jackson. Jerry Shipp was the leading scorer (15.7) for the team that went 6-3 just weeks after going unbeaten in winning the gold medal at the Pan Am Games.
The fifth World Championship was held in the 18,000-seat "Cylinder," the stadium without heat. Teams used blankets and electric heaters on the benches as temperatures in the building remained at 35 degrees throughout the tournament. The Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the United States all entered the final day of competition with 4-1 records. The Soviet Union beat Yugoslavia to claim the new championship trophy, which was named for Dr. James Naismith. Brazil beat the United States and through tiebreakers, the United States finished fourth for a second straight tournament. Darel Carrier led the U.S. team in scoring with an average of 11.7.
The World Championship was decided for the first time away from South America and for the third time the host country won it all. One of Yugoslavia's top players was Kresimir Cosic, then a sophomore at Brigham Young University who would be elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. The United States, coming off consecutive fourth-place finishes, was fifth with a 6-3 record, the losses to Italy, Yugoslavia and Brazil in its final three games. The 70-63 loss to Yugoslavia had to be stopped twice as the sellout crowd of 8,000 at Tivoli Arena threw debris on the court. Mike Silliman, who played at Army, averaged 13.8 points to lead the U.S. team which also featured Bill Walton, a high school senior who would enter UCLA that fall.
This was the United States' first competition since losing the gold medal to the Soviet Union at the Munich Olympics. Five players from that controversial ending were on the Soviet team while the U.S. team was its youngest ever, comprised of college players, only three of whom had played on the international level. The United States beat Yugoslavia in a matchup of 5-0 teams, but the Soviet Union beat the U.S. team in the final game, leaving three teams with 6-1 records. The tiebreaker used was points scored divided by points against and the United States dropped to the bronze in the equation. John Lucas, Quinn Buckner, Luther "Ticky" Burden and Tom Boswell led the U.S. team with Lucas selected as the tournament's MVP.
For the first time, a medal round was used to determine the final placings and Yugoslavia beat the Soviet Union 82-81 in overtime in the first gold medal game, reversing the order of finish from four years earlier. The October tournament again meant the United States couldn't send a team of college players so Athletes in Action was selected as its representative. The U.S. team lost four games, but finished the tournament with a 96-94 win over Canada in the fifth-place game as Brad Hoffman made a steal and scored with five seconds to play.
The team of U.S. collegians lost an early round game to Spain but came up with five straight wins, including a 99-93 victory that handed the Soviet Union its first loss. The United States beat Australia in the semifinals to set up a rematch with the Soviets for the gold. The United States trailed 94-87 with 1:28 to play and got within 95-94 with 9 seconds left, but a short jumper missed as time expired and the Soviets had their third World Championship title. Glenn "Doc" Rivers of Marquette, now the coach of the NBA's Orlando Magic, had 24 points in the gold medal game and was selected the tournament's MVP.
The United States won the gold at the World Championships for the first time since 1954 with Arizona's Lute Olson coaching a team that featured future NBA players such as David Robinson, Kenny Smith, Charles Smith, Steve Kerr, Derrick McKey, Rony Seikaly, Sean Elliott and Tyrone Bogues. One of the best matchups of the tournament came when the 5-foot-3 Bogues held Yugoslavia's Drazen Petrovic, who was 6-5, scoreless for the opening eight minutes of the United States' 69-60 quarterfinal victory. Kenny Smith's layup over 7-2 Arvydas Sabonis with 15 seconds left gave the U.S. team an 87-83 lead over the Soviet Union and it went on to an 87-85 victory.
Coached by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and featuring collegians Kenny Anderson, Christian Laettner, Alonzo Mourning and Billy Owens, the U.S. team trailed with less than two minutes to play in five of its eight games and rallied to win three of them. But the United States' run ended in the semifinals with a 99-91 loss to Yugoslavia, which featured Vlade Divac, Drazen Petrovic and Toni Kukoc. The U.S. team beat Puerto Rico 107-105 in overtime to win the bronze. Anderson, who led the team in scoring at 18.8, made two free throws with no time left to force the overtime. Yugoslavia's 92-75 win over the Soviet Union for the gold was the last time that country entered a unified team as Croatia broke away and would win a bronze medal four years later.
Just two years after the United States dominated the Olympics with its first team of NBA players, Dream Team II steamrolled through the World Championships, winning its eight games by an average of 37.7 points. With Shaquille O'Neal dominating inside and Reggie Miller hitting from well beyond the 3-point line, the United States was never challenged, scoring less than 100 points just once and capping the tournament at SkyDome with a 137-91 victory over Russia in the gold medal game. The only blemish against the U.S. team was that many people felt there was too much trash-talking and strutting for a team that has so much more talent.
With the NBA embroiled in a lockout of its players, the United States was represented by a collection of college players and professionals from the CBA and overseas leagues. Coach Rudy Tomjanovich went from leading the heavy favorite for a second straight U.S. gold to trying to win with a team filled with no-names. Yugoslavia, still crippled by war and missing star center Vlade Divac, won its record fourth gold medal with a 64-62 victory over Russia in the final. The U.S. team did much better than expected, losing to Russia 66-64 in the semifinals after blowing a 10-point lead in the final three minutes. The United States won the bronze with an 84-61 victory over Greece as Jason Sasser scored 23 points. |
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