The United States made it to their eighth Semi-Finals of the FIBA Basketball World Cup, leading by some distance in that category. They will be chasing even more records this Friday.
Canada is a new team in the Semi-Finals, while Germany got there back in 2002 when they won their only medal. As an independent nation, Serbia reached the Semi-Finals in 2010 and 2014, when they even got to the title game, and this makes it their third appearance among the final four in World Cup history.
All four will be chasing Greece’s mark of 101 points. That’s the most points scored in a single Semi-Final game, done back in 2006, when Greece stunned the United States 101-95, in the highest scoring Semi-Final of all time, too.
The USA owns a couple of other records in terms of scoring. Back in 1986, they had 60 points at the half in their game against Brazil, which is the most points scored in the first 20 minutes of a Semi-Final.
The other would be the defensive mark. The United States allowed just 58 points in their win over Greece in 1994, which is the lowest number of points allowed in a Semi-Final game.
That same year, Russia and Croatia combined for 130 points, the lowest points total in the Semi-Finals, and the 39-point win for the USA over Greece made it the biggest margin of victory in this phase.
As for individuals, they will all chase the mark set by Oscar Schmidt. The legendary Brazilian poured in 43 points back in 1986, and his scoring record in the Semi-Finals still stands.
But how do the continents rank? Throughout history, the Final most often saw one team from Europe and one from the Americas. It has happened seven times, including the last three championship games (ESP v ARG 2019; USA v SRB 2014; USA v TUR 2010).
An all-European Final could happen if Germany and Serbia win their games against the United States and Canada, respectively. It would be the fifth all-European Final of the World Cup, with the last one back in 2006 when Spain played Greece, and the previous three being in 1998 (FR Yugoslavia v Russia), 1990 and 1978 (both Yugoslavia v Soviet Union).
What about an all-Americas Final? Well, it has never happened in the history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup. Teams from the Americas finished one-and-two in the first three editions of the event, from 1950 to 1959, but back then, there was no Final, just the final rankings after a round-robin competition system.
All-European Finals
1978 Yugoslavia v Soviet Union 82-81 (OT)
1990 Yugoslavia v Soviet Union 92-75
1998 FR Yugoslavia v Russia 64-62
2006 Spain v Greece 70-47
Europe vs. America Finals
1982 Soviet Union v United States 95-94
1986 United States v Soviet Union 87-85
1994 United States v Russia 137-91
2002 FR Yugoslavia v Argentina 84-77 (OT)
2010 United States v Turkey 81-64
2014 United States v Serbia 129-92
2019 Spain v Argentina 95-75
#1 and #2 without a Final
1950 Argentina, United States
1954 United States, Brazil
1959 Brazil, United States
1967 Soviet Union, Yugoslavia
1974 Soviet Union, Yugoslavia
Comments