After two weeks of competition, the FIBA WorldCup has finally ended, with Germany taking home the gold medal after a victory over Serbia on Sunday morning.
But to Jazz Nation, they were most interested in Sunday morning's third-place game featuring Team USA and Canada — pitting Walker Kessler against Kelly Olynyk. In another high-scoring affair that saw a dramatic final five seconds force overtime, Olynyk and Canada took home the bronze medal after picking up the 127-118 victory.
CANADA 127 | UNITED STATES 118
Olynyk and Kessler hoped to face each other with much more than a bronze medal on the line. In fact, both teams were predicted to be the gold medal favorites, setting off a North American showdown to determine the best in the world. That never happened, and both teams ended the World Cup with third place at stake.
It's not that Team USA got off to a slow start as much as Canada just came out firing and executing on offense that there wasn't much the Americans could do. Dillon Brooks (Houston) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City) were on fire, and Team USA had no answer for the dynamic duo.
However, things flipped in the second quarter as the Americans answered on offense. Finally getting some stops on defense allowed them to get out in transition, where their athleticism at the rim took over. They trimmed their nine-point deficit at the end of the first quarter to just two at the break.
The second half played out identical to the first, with Canada stretching its lead to nine again with a potent offensive attack. Team USA answered by buckling down on defense over the final 10 minutes, getting some big-time stops and pushing the tempo for easy buckets.
But the drama started when Mikal Bridges (Brooklyn) was at the free throw line with Team USA down by four with 4.2 seconds left. After making the first free throw, he intentionally missed the second, grabbed the rebound, and drilled a corner three with .2 seconds remaining. Olynyk had a look to win it for Canada, but the shot just missed, sending the game to overtime.
After using so much energy to send the game to overtime, the Americans ran out of steam as Canada cruised to the bronze medal.
With the Americans struggling to stay healthy as an illness spread throughout the team, Kessler got his first start of the World Cup in arguably the team's most important game. He answered the call, finishing with six points (3-for-3 from the field), seven rebounds, and one block — he had the best plus-minus rating of any starter by a wide margin.
Meanwhile, Olynyk came off the bench as Canada elected to go small to start. He responded with 11 points, two rebounds, and two assists, shooting 4-of-6 from the field and 1-of-3 from deep.
"It's hard, these teams in FIBA are really good, well-coached, they've got continuity, this is difficult," USA head coach Steve Kerr said. "What I'm so impressed with is just the way our guys fought, especially tonight under these circumstances, missing three key teammates, just battling to get to overtime was impressive."
Slovenia 89 | ITALY 85
Fellow Jazzman Simone Fontecchio saw his World Cup end as he led Italy to an eighth-place finish — their best since 1998 — as the team fellow to Luka Doncic (Dallas) and Slovenia on Saturday.
For a game where Slovenia looked a step ahead the entire game, the Italians proved once again that they can't be counted out until the final whistle. Trailing by five with just over two minutes to go, Italy rallied with a quick 7-0 run to take a two-point lead with one minute to go. But Slovenia answered, ending the game on a 6-0 run to pull out the victory.
Fontecchio finished with 16 points against Slovenia, ending the tournament with averages of 18 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.
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September 11, 2023 at 03:27AM
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"This Is Difficult" | Olynyk And Canada Win Bronze Medal Over Kessler And Team USA; Fontecchio And Italy Finish Eighth - NBA.com
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