Crazy day at the Worlds

Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicls writes that Vlade Divac may have been confident in his team’s chances against Team USA, but he never said they would beat Spain.

A crazy day at the Basketball World Championships saw two incredible upsets. The Grizzlies’ Paul Gasol and his Spanish team beat Divac’s Yugoslavian club and the team from Brazil defeated Turkey in spectacular fashion.

Yugoslavia fell behind by 19 points in the first half against Spain. They mounted their comeback in the second half, finally taking a lead with 7:44 remaining in the fourth quarter. Spain recovered as Divac fouled out.

A pair of 3 pointers gave Spain the lead with 45 seconds remaining. Paul Gasol was fouled with 27 seconds left giving him a chance to extent Spain’s lead to 4 points. After scoring 25 points in the game, Gasol missed both free throws. Yugoslavia’s last second attempt rattled out and Spain had a 71-69 victory.

In the other game, the favored team from Turkey built a 16-point lead against Brazil but the Brazilian team fought back. After 2 missed free throws by the Truks, Brazil had a chance to win with 15.6 seconds left.

Brazil isolated Marcelo Machado on ex-NBA player Mirsad Turkcan. Machado ran the clock down to his last possible chance before launching his shot just before the buzzer and just beyond Turkcan's reach 22-feet from the basket. It swished, giving Machado a 30-point afternoon and Brazil the 88-86 win.

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Divac Starts War of The Words With U.S.

Steve Wyche of the Washington Post reports that Vlade Divac believes that the Team USA’s grip on the World Championships is in jeopardy.

"We don't think we can beat them, we know we can beat them just like somebody can beat us before we can meet [Team USA] in the finals," Divac said after his team beat Angola, 113-63. "They are the favorites and they are number one and the best. [Do] we have a chance against them? Yeah, we do have a chance. If we come close, we will take advantage of it."

Team USA’s Paul Pierce, was unfazed by Divac's remarks. "The [Yugoslavians] are supposed to feel that way," he said. "I'm glad they feel confident. I'm not going to make any comment to give them any fuel. Vlade has been known to make comments like that." Said U.S. Coach George Karl: "It's our job to shut up the critics. . . . We've just got to go do our jobs and if we do our jobs then everyone has to write their apologies."

American forward Ben Wallace was a little less diplomatic. "That's Vlade shooting off at the mouth again," he said. "He does a lot of that. It's his personal opinion and if that's his personal opinion, who am I to argue with that? That's why we play the games. We're going to be right here."

Vlade’s Yugoslavian squad has five NBA players and feels they can break the US dominance in international play. The Kings’ Peja Stojakovic, Seattle's Vladimir Radmanovic and Predrag Drobnjak and Clippers rookie Marko Jaric want to prove their skills and national pride against a lesser US team.

A weaker Team USA, which features Raef LaFrentz instead of Shaquille O'Neal, Shawn Marion instead of Kobe Bryant and Jay Williams instead of Jason Kidd, is a main reason for Yugoslavia's confidence. "If they had Shaq, Kobe and everybody else it would be a different story," Divac said. "This USA team . . . they are not the real Dream Team. The Dream Team is in the past."

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Bibby re-signs for 80 million

Martin McNeal of the Sacramento Bee reports: On Thursday, Mike Bibby agreed to a new seven-year, $80 million contract with the Sacramento KIngs.

"I'm happy," Bibby said Thursday night from Las Vegas before a late dinner. "I figured something would happen in that meeting. I'm glad to be back in Sac."

The Kings will announce the signing today at a news conference in Las Vegas.

It is the team's second news conference in three days after signing free-agent forward Keon Clark on Wednesday.

Via Sacramento Bee

Sacramento Kings, Contract Signing

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