WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ARGENTINA 1990
The USA had been terribly shaken in the Seoul Olympics. For the North Americans a defeat in a world championship was fairly irrelevant but the Olympics were a different kettle of fish. The fact that a team containing Mitch Richmond, Danny Manning, Stacey Augmon, Dan Majerle and David Robinson had been relegated to third position had started a debate about the chances of young American players against the experienced Soviets and Yugoslavs. The general conclusion was the difference between the countries had decreased and that US university players, who now joined the NBA at an earlier age, lacked the experience necessary to compete against these teams. The USA planned their revenge and sent out their best possible team. Led by the successful Mike Krzyzewski, coach of the University of Kentucky, a team composed of the elite of the latest university talent turned up in Villa Ballester, a few kilometres from Buenos Aires. The team included Alonzo Mourning, Billy Owens, Christian Laettner, Kenny Anderson, Todd Day, Brian Stith and Lee Mayberry, all of them highly talented players who would go on to earn million-dollar contracts in the NBA but had no experience of international competition.
This defect of the US team became evident in their first match against Greece who had a highly experienced team. They suffered from the absence of Gallis but maintained their character and a group of good players( Fasoulas, Christodoulos, Patavoukas) centred on the captain Panagiotis Giannakis. The Greeks kept pace with the Americans and only succumbed to the superior athleticism of the US players in overtime( 103-95).
Greece had to beat Spain in their next match in order to qualify for the next round and they did not disappoint their fans. Giannakis showed up the Spanish side coached by Antonio Diaz Miguel who had lost both respect and credibility. The chemistry between the coach and his players had been lost after the disappointment in their home World Championship and the subsequent disaster in the Seoul Olympics. He had the players and the press against him and his only support came from his federation. Spain failed against Greece( 102-93), made a slightly better impression in the defeat against the USA( 85-85) but their poor performance meant that they were relegated to the consolation round in Salta.
In the final group in Cordoba the USSR presented a team made up of relative unknowns, Tikhonenko and Volkov were their most famous players. Although they were reigning Olympic champions the absence of the Lithuanian stars would be noted although against the weak rivals in their qualifying group this was not unduly noticed. The Soviets beat Argentina( 97-77), Egypt( 102-76) and Canada( 90- 81). They qualified for the next round along with the hosts who beat Canada 96-88 in the decisive game.
YUGOSLAVIA SHINES
The deliberate defeat suffered by Yugoslavia against Puerto Rico meant that the two groups in the next round were very unequal. The first contained Puerto Rico, Australia, USA and Argentina, with the USA as clear favourites leaving the others to fight it out for the second semi final spot. The second group did not seem so clear cut. Yugoslavia seemed to be superior to the others and the USSR was slight favourite to join them in the semi finals but both Brazil and Greece were hard to beat.
Yugoslavia quickly dispelled any doubts. This time their coach was Dusan Ivkovic and for one of the last times he was able to gather the cream of Balkan talent together under the same flag. The Serbian Vlade Divac and the Croat Drazen Petrovic were both in attendance despite objections from their respective NBA teams. Along with Paspalj, Kukoc, Perasovic, Komacek and Savac they had an unrivalled squad.
Yugoslavia started their cakewalk towards the title by crushing Brazil( 105-86), Oscar Schmidt ' s 40 points were not nearly enough against Ivkovic ' s side, they continued with a humiliation of the USSR( 100-77) despite the fact that Petrovic scarcely played because of flu. Kukov led the team perfectly with basketball that was as spectacular as it was practical. For the last match against Greece Ivkovic rested his best players and Yugoslavia“ only” won by ten points( 77-67). Meanwhile the Soviets got back on track at the hands of Tikhonenko whose 38 points were vital in their victory over Brazil( 110-100), they had previously beaten Greece conclusively( 75-57) so they went through to the semi finals.
230 FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ