Basketball World Cup: the USA says goodbye to worst World Cup

The basketball players of the USA have said goodbye to their historically worst world championship with a victory and seventh place.

The hardest beaten USA basketball players have said goodbye to their historically worst world championship with a win and seventh place. In the Wukesong Sports Center in Beijing, the team of start coach Gregg Popovich won their last game of the placement round against Poland with 87:74 (47:30). The low point so far was sixth place in 2002, and World Cup tournaments have been held since 1950.

In a game led with low intensity, the Americans showed spectacular offensive basketball at times, at the break the team around his best shooter Donovan Mitchell (16 points) already drew on 17 points.

The USA with a lot of lack of concentration

However, the five-time World Champion then broke in his attacking game. A lot of lack of concentration crept in and Poland, who had only participated for the second time in the world championship, worked their way up to seven points with a 7-0 run in the middle of the third quarter. Despite 18 points from top scorer Mateusz Ponitka, the underdog coached by Mike Taylor was unable to catch up.

The US team had travelled to China without numerous stars. Before the start of the World Cup preparation in August, the top players James Harden and Stephen Curry had cancelled.