At the end of the tournament, the Latvian national team will meet the winners of the Lithuanian and Slovenian national teams in the game for 5th place on Saturday, which will be announced later on Thursday.
Andrejs Gražulis scored 28 points and Aigars Škēle added 12 points and nine assists in the semi-final for 5th place for Latvia. Luigi Datome scored 20 points for Italy.
The start of the game was unsuccessful for the Latvian national team, coming in behind with a 10-point deficit, but the team recovered in the second quarter and had already taken the lead at the end of the half. In the third quarter, the Italian national team managed to intensify the fight for a moment, but did not achieve a breakthrough in the game.
The accuracy of the Italian national team’s shots and the errors of the Latvian national team allowed the southerners to take a 10:3 lead in the first four and a half minutes. The Italians had free opportunities to shoot three-pointers and did not hesitate to use it, increasing the advantage to 13 points (23:10). At the end of the first quarter, Rolands Šmits hit a long shot, and Latvian basketball players went into the break with an eight-point deficit (18:26).
The Latvians also proved their sniper skills from the three-point line, quickly reducing the deficit to five points (24:29) in the second quarter. The mistakes of the opponents helped the Italian basketball players to regain a double-digit advantage for a while (34:24), however, they already had to count on a more active reaction of the Latvian basketball players in the shots, and this reduced the accuracy of the hits. After Gražulis’ three-pointer, Italy only had a minimal lead, but
in the penultimate minute of the half, Rodions Kurucs put Latvia in the lead for the first time (43:42).
At the beginning of the second half, Artūrs Žagars with two three-pointers made the Latvian national team +10 (52:42). Having regained the taste of the game, the Latvians strengthened their leadership, fighting effectively both in defense and finding good opportunities in attack. In the middle of the quarter, the Italians recovered, but did not get closer than -2, and the Latvian national team went into the last break with a seven-point lead (67:60).
In the final quarter, the Italian national team maintained intrigue and in the last minute reduced Latvia’s advantage to two points (84:82), however, the Latvians played quite safely at the end of the match to protect the victory, Gražulis making an important three-pointer 24 seconds before the final whistle.
Simone Fontecchio, the team’s only player from the National Basketball Association (NBA), remained on the bench for the Italian national team.
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In the final tournament, all places in the best eight are played.
The main semi-finals will take place on Friday – the opponents of the Serbian national team will be Canadian basketball players, while the US national team will compete against Germany, which blocked the path to the top four for the Latvian national team.
CONTEXT:
In the first group round, the Latvian national team defeated Lebanon and defeated the French national team in Indonesia, but lost to Canadian basketball players. On the other hand, in the second group round, the Latvians defeated the previous World Cup holders, Spain, and reached the quarter-finals with a victory over Brazil.
32 national teams participated in the final tournament for the first time, and the Latvian national team is a debutant. The winners of the World Cup will be announced at the final on Sunday, September 10, in Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
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2023-09-07 10:29:18
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