The United States and Canadian dream match will happen but in the 3rd Place Game.
Somehow, the two best teams in the FIBA World Cup are out, after the United States lost to the still-undefeated Germany, and Canada got drummed out by a Serbian team that doesn’t feature Nikola Jokic. The two best teams in the World Cup were drubbed out by two central and eastern European squads with more talent than they were given credit for.
Germany was always going to be a tough out backed by Moritz and Franz Wagner. While Frans has missed some time, others on the squad like Dennis Schoerder and Daniel Thies have really done a great job keeping the team afloat in his absence.
The Serbian team doesn’t have the best player in the world, Jokic, but does have a very game Bogdan Bogdanovic, as well as a rising star in Nikola Jovic. The duo was aided by center Nikola Milutinov, who has been a force all tournament down low.
Now the Serbian and German national teams will compete for the World Cup title, while the Canadian and United States squads will compete to see who finishes in third place. For the US, they were down Brandon Ingram, who was out with an upper respiratory illness. But Ingram’s absence wasn’t why the United States lost to Germany.
The team shot 70% from the floor, clearly whatever issue the team had wasn’t on offense, it was on defense. And their best defensive player, the Utah Jazz’s own, Walke Kessler didn’t play a single minute of action.
As for Team Canada, the issue was not just on offense, but on defense as well, as they gave the Serbian team a lot of space to shoot, allowing them to score at a clip of 62.1%. Kelly Olynyk wasn’t able to do much good there, and his usual effectiveness from all points on the court was surprisingly limited. He shot just 1-6 from the floor and finished with nine points, three rebounds, and four assists, while also having four turnovers as well.
The much-anticipated showdown between the Canadians and Americans will still happen as hoped, but now it’ll happen in the Third Place Game on Sunday, prior to the World Cup Finals.