WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PUERTO RICO 1974
The groups for the twelve teams in the classification phase were decided by a draw which was
weighted to ensure that the strongest teams went through to the final phase. The first group was
made up of the USSR, Brazil, Mexico and the Central African Republic (CAR); USA, Spain,
Argentina and the Philippines made up Group B and group C, the tightest of all, was composed of
Cuba, Canada, Czechoslovakia and Australia.
NO SURPRISES AT THE BEGINNING
The championship started on 3 July. The USSR and Brazil, the Group A favourites, lived up to
expectations but the Mexicans were disappointing and did not do as well as expected. The USSR
maintained their traditional potential. Alexander Gomelski had left the team after the
disappointment of the Yugoslavia World Championship to be replaced by Vladimir Kondrashin,
Olympic champion albeit amid the controversy of the final. The setback suffered in Eurobasket
1973 when they only won the bronze medal after losing to Spain in the semi-final was seen as
only a brief slip due to typical problems of mental preparation. They showed they had returned to
top form by winning their three classification matches with ease. They beat the Central African
Republic (140-48), Brazil (79-60) and Mexico (95-80). The 140 points against the Africans set a
new tournament record, beating that of the USA of 135 set only a few hours previously. In
contrast, Brazil was not having a good time. They still had the famous Marcel Ubiratan and Carlos
“Mosquito” Massoni, but the legendary Marques and Amaury were no longer at the helm and
Brazil suffered their absence. The poor seventh place in the Munich Olympics augured ill for the
Brazilians who did not seem likely to add to their title as the nation with most championship
medals. Although they lost to the USSR they easily beat the CAR (94-54) and Mexico (100-78). At
least they remained among the best.
In Group B it was clear that USA and Spain would qualify in that order. Spanish claims of
superiority was based more on ignorance than anything else. As usual the USA sent a very
unbalanced team and it seemed that they had little interest in avenged the defeat at the Munich
Olympics.
First, David Thompson, the university sensation of the time dropped out of the US line up as did
Bill Walton, a few hours before leaving for Puerto Rico. The backbone of the US team was broken
and responsibility for the revenge on the USSR was left in the hands of a group of 21-year olds led
by John Lucas.
Spain, coached by Antonio Diaz Miguel was living its first golden era. They had won the European
silver medal the previous year and their team included the naturalised Americans Wayne
Brabender and Clifford Luyk (although Luyk was carrying an ankle injury) as their star players.
They accompanied by Corabalan, Cabrera, Santillana, Flores, Rullan and Sangi-Vela.
The USA started with a 135-85 win over the Philippines, a new scoring record at the time and
followed this with clear victories over Spain (114-71) and Argentina (109-86). As expected Spain
took second place beating Argentina (96-89) and Philippines (117-85). The Spanish team was
booed on their opening appearance and suffered the antipathy of the crowd in every match
because the Puerto Rican coach had made some comments alleging poor treatment of his team
during a Christmas tournament in Spain in which his team was thrashed by Real Madrid.
Argentina and Philippines were a long way from the level of their two group opponents. Argentina
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FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ