The Spaniards finish third in Group L behind the Canadians and Latvia, who had already beaten them on Friday (74-69), and who qualified after their success against Brazil (104-84) while they are playing their first World Cup.
The reigning European champions have been present in the final phase of the World Cup continuously since 1998.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my team. We topped all the stats, led the whole game… Given the circumstances, this will go down as one of our best competitions,” said coach Sergio Scariolo (Italian ) of a Roja who showed up in Jakarta without her two experienced leaders, Ricky Rubio and Lorenzo Brown.
Canada will play its first World Cup finals since 1982, facing Slovenia in the quarterfinals on Wednesday in Manila. By the way, he validated (like the United States) his ticket for the 2024 Olympics, where he will make a comeback after 24 years of absence.
“These qualifications for the quarterfinals and the Games are not an end. It would make no sense to relax now,” said Canada coach, Spain’s Jordi Fernandez.
“The world should know that we are knocking on the door. We have the talent to be here for many years,” he added.
Decisive Gilgeous-Alexander
The Canadians came back from a seven-point deficit in the last four minutes and took the lead 50 seconds from the end on a basket by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, then impeccable on the free-throw line.
The Oklahoma City point guard, who scored his team’s last eight points, finished as the game’s top scorer (30 pts), which could have gone into overtime. But the winning shot at the last second from Alex Abrines bounced off the hoop.
The Canadians will not be able to meet the United States before the final.
Second in Group J, the latter will face Italy, first in Group I, in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Difficult winner of Montenegro on Friday (85-73), the selection coached by Steve Kerr was handicapped by a disastrous first quarter (12-31).
Led by Anthony Edwards (35 pts), she was trailing by 11 points 1 min 30 sec from the end before coming back to five lengths 28 seconds from the buzzer. But the Lithuanians were solid on the free-throw line.
The Nazionale will play its first quarter-finals of the World Cup since 1998 after winning a double or quits match against Puerto Rico (73-57).
History Latvia
The other quarter-final on Tuesday will pit the Lithuanians, first in Group J, against Serbia, who made the difference in the first period against the Dominican Republic (56-35 at halftime, 112-79 final score).
Latvia continues its excellent course for its first World Cup.
After having eliminated France, reigning Olympic vice-champion and third in the 2019 World Cup, in the first round, and having offered the scalp of Spain, the Latvians took Brazil out of the competition, surprise winner of Canada during the previous game (69-65).
In particular thanks to their offshore address: 2/3 for Andrejs Grazulis (24 pts), 4/4 for Arturs Kurucs (12 pts), 3/5 for Arturs Zagars (17 pts) and 4/9 for Davis Bertans (14 pts ).
Latvia will face Germany on Wednesday, who finished top of group K after beating Slovenia (100-71), thanks in particular to their leader Dennis Schröder (24 pts and 10 assists), who had an altercation with the coach Gordon Herbert during a time out.
Luka Doncic was too isolated on the Slovenian side: he finished top scorer (23 pts), rebounder (6) and passer (6) of his team.
2023-09-03 15:30:14
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