Spain and United States off to winning starts at FIBA Basketball World Cup

By Duncan Mackay

It was a memorable opening to the FIBA Basketball World Cup as hosts Spain and defending champions the United States both got their campaigns off to a winning start, although Croatia were nearly on the wrong end of an upset.

The first round of matches came after Jose Luis Saez, President of Spain's Basketball Federation (FEB), had declared the event open during a Ceremony held at the emblematic Parador de San Francisco in Granada.

Accompanied by a number of political personalities, Saez welcomed all 24 national teams to the two-week "party of all continents", which is taking place across Spain.

"This is going to be an unforgettable World Cup," he said.

Bilbao, Gran Canaria, Granada and Sevilla are hosting the group phase of FIBA's flagship event, before the final matches are staged in Barcelona and Madrid.

The final is due to be staged at the Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad de Madrid in the Spanish capital on September 14.

Opening Ceremony of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Granada with (from left to right): Spanish Basketball Federation President Jose Luis Saez; outgoing FIBA President Yvan Mainini; President of the Autonomous region of Andalusia Susana Diaz; Mayor of Granada Jose Torres Hurtado; FIBA secretary general Patrick Baumann ©FIBA

There were memorable games in all all the venues but the venue that played host to the most exciting game of all was the Palacio Municipal de Deportes San Pablo in Seville.

That is where Croatia, ranked 16th in the world, launched their Group B campaign against the Philippines, ranked 34th, and needed to dig deep to win 81-78 after the extra period.

American-born Andray Blatche, who has played in the NBA for the Washington Wizards and Brooklyn Nets, had a major impact in his first major tournament game with Gilas and finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds.

But Bojan Bogdanovic hit a pair of free-throws with 41 seconds left in the overtime to snap a 75-75 tie and put Croatia on their way to victory.

Also in Seville, number three in the FIBA rankings, Argentina, cruised to a 98-75 victory over Puerto Rico.

Luis Scola poured in 20 points,while Andres Nocioni and Selem Safar contributed 18 each as they got their campaign off to a satisfactory start.

The third game of the day in Group B saw Greece blow out Senegal 87-64.

Kostas Kaimakoglou top-scored for the Greeks with 17 points.

Group C in Bilbao had plenty of excitement in the first game.

Ukraine turned on the style with 14 unanswered points at the beginning of the third quarter, eventually winning, 72-62 in the Bizkaia Arena.

New Zealand twice had 12-point leads against Turkey in the second game of Group C, including early in the fourth quarter, but the Turks struck back to prevail, 76-73.

Oguz Savas had 13 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, while Kerem Tunceri, Sinan Guler and Baris Hersek all made important plays for the Turks.

The Tall Blacks lost despite an inspirational effort from Corey Webster, the guard coming off the bench and scoring 22 points.

DeMar DeRozan of United States in action during the 2014 FIBA Basketbal World Cup C match against Finland in Bilbao ©Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The final Group C game of the night between the US and Finland had the electric atmosphere that everyone expected with thousands of Finns filling much of the Bizkaia Arena.

But the Americans were predictably too strong as Klay Thompson hit four of his seven shots from long range and finished with 18 points, and Anthony Davis also excelled with 17 as they triumphed 114-55.

In Group D at the Gran Canaria Arena in Las Palmas, Angola started the day with an 80-69 victory over South Korea.

Olimpio Cipriano and Yanick Moreira had 16 points each and Eduardo Mingas had 14 points and five rebounds for the Angolans.

Slovenia followed with a 90-80 triumph over Australia.

Goran Dragic scored 21 points, handed out four assists and grabbed seven rebounds.

Slovenia made enough plays down the stretch to begin the tournament with a victory.

Lithuania overcame the first-half resistance of Mexico to post an 87-74 win.

Jonas Maciulis had 19 points and Jonas Valanciunas 17 for the victors.

In Group A at the Palacio Municipal de Deportes de Granada, Serbia had a convincing 85-64 win against Egypt with point guard Milos Teodosic scoring a game-high 15 points.

Brazil were up next and held on to claim a 65-63 success against France.