WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP INDIANAPOLIS 2002
and already playing in the NBA) who was missing due to a groin strain suffered during the
Advanced Campus for Tall Men in Hawaii.
To sum up, apart from the predictable disappointments of Algeria (without Ouldyassia and
Bouziane, the latter being the great hero of the qualification won in the victory over Tunisia (77-
76) in the semi-finals of the African Championship, as both had been rejected by FIBA because
they had previously represented France), Lebanon (they got together on 13 May, played 30
matches, spent the million dollars that Seikaly had put up out of his own pocket, set up a web
page to recruit players, scored the first point of the competition and had three players with entry
visas problems for the USA, despite the fact that they were coached by the American Neumann),
Venezuela (the best years of their standard bearers, Herrera and Diaz, were now over) and the
above mentioned Canada, the rest seemed to be saving themselves for the next round.
“Tell me how you train and I'll tell you how you'll play”. Its certain that Russia (with the return of
Karassev after his inexplicable absences in Sydney 2000 and Turkey '01), Turkey (3,000
supporters in downtown Indianapolis) and China (with Ming as the great attraction, an average of
21.0, third highest scorer at the event) had hopes to be in at the death. For this the Russians had
to pay the insurance demanded by the NBA to allow Kirilenko to play the warm up matches (later,
in the tournament, he would score 0/7 against New Zealand and 4/15 against Argentina in the
two defeats that would fatally wound Eremin's men), Turkey buried their dressing room jealousies
to avoid defeat by a single basket against both Puerto Rico and Brazil after leading by over 10
points (Turkoglu took all the shots –three consecutive misses against Puerto Rico- despite being
very tightly marked, then complained that Kutluay hadn't dyed his hair blond as the rest of the
team had done) and China had managed to persuade Zhi Zhi to travel to China along with the
other internationals instead of staying in North America (imagine the Great Wall of China, never
was the expression better used than to describe that which he would have formed together with
Ming and Batere).
A totally different picture was painted by Angola who, after winning fair and square against
Canada in the first phase (84-74), managed to beat the hitherto unbeaten Brazil (86-83) and the
th
tough Puerto Rico, winner of Group E (89-87). In the end they finished 11 and all credit was due
to Mario Palma and his team.
THE DAY THE NBA COLLAPSED
We could expound further on the pleasant surprise of Puerto Rico (without the outside pairing of
Casiano and Colon who were proclaimed league champions with Leones de Ponce, but with the
veterans Ortiz and Mincy who guided them through to the quarter-finals as leader of their group,
ahead of Yugoslavia, Spain and Brazil), New Zealand (not only thanks to the Maori war dance
known as the Kaka did the “Tall Blacks” eliminate Australia (2-1) in the match to qualify for the
tournament without the “Americans” Penny and Marks. Their teamwork –4, 4 and 6 players in
double figures in their first three matches- endeared them to all in addition to their achievement
of brushing the Russians aside 91-80, and Germany (who confirmed two facts; firstly that they
were better without Bradley, and secondly that Nowitzki was the star of the tournament –“What a
guy! He always manages to cause you problems” stated Pierce) but its time to go where the action
was, the Conseco Fieldhouse.
“If an American team made up of NBA players were to lose to a team from another country there
would be twelve guys needing a change of identity”. Take note of Jason Kidd's statement made
when he was part of the team only a few months previously. At least the guard from the Nets
saved himself from the subsequent nightmare that was succinctly by Ben Wallace in the following
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FUNDACIÓN PEDRO FERRÁNDIZ