FIBA World Cup 2019 - Day 1 Results

The FIBA World Cup tipped off at 4 venues in China, as Groups A through D started the first round on Saturday, with few surprises but one major comeback.

Day 1 of the FIBA World Cup in China did not offer a lot of surprises, but was highlighted by a huge comeback victory for Puerto Rico to open play in Group C and a disappointing loss by Nigeria, which had Russia on the ropes before faltering late.

Puerto Rico beating Iran 83-81 on Saturday hardly classifies as an upset — the Puerto Ricans entered the tournament at No. 16 in the FIBA World Rankings, well ahead of the 27th-ranked Iranians — but it was the way Puerto Rico picked up the win that was the highlight of the day.

Iran, riding the advantage of its two 7-footers against a Puerto Rican squad with one player taller than 6-foot-10, led by as much as 19 points in the first half and still led by 11 with 3:04 to go before Puerto Rico closed the game on an 18-5 burst to steal the win.

David Huertas scored 11 of his game-high 32 points in the final 1:52, but it was old pro Javier Mojica who hit the game-winner with a pull-up jumper in the lane after Iran’s lone NBA player ever, Hamed Haddadi, had tied the game with a deep 3 from the wing with 4.4 seconds left.

Mojica, who turned 35 on Saturday, ended up with the ball and some space to drive and the former Central Connecticut State player made the most of the opportunity.

Iran killed itself with 18 turnovers, including three in the final 2:22 — a sequence which included a costly unsportsmanlike foul against Armen Zangeneh as Iran nursed a four-point lead with 46 seconds left.

Zangeneh fouled Puerto Rico’s Renaldo Balkman, the former first-round pick of the New York Knicks, with the clock stopped during an inbounds play, giving P.R. two free throws and the ball. Balkman split the foul shots before Huertas canned his fourth 3-pointer of the game to tie it.

Huertas, who was 13-for-19 overall and 5-for-7 from deep in the game, gave Puerto Rico the lead with his next 3-pointer, a catch-and-shoot jumper from the top of the arc with 16.1 seconds left

In the other game in Group C, favored Spain took care of business, pulling away from Tunisia for a 101-62 win.

As action tipped off in the most-competitive group in the first round, Group A, Poland erased an early seven-point deficit in an 80-69 victory over Venezuela, while host China got off on the right foot, breaking open a tie game at halftime for a 70-55 win over Ivory Coast.

In Group B play, Russia came back from an eight-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Nigeria 82-77, while Argentina routed Korea 95-69.

Group D saw a pair of blowouts from the two top teams, with Serbia blasting Angola 105-59 and Italy eviscerating the Philippines 108-62.

Here are the takeaways from the first day, by group.

Record field set for 2019 FIBA World Cup

The biggest basketball World Cup is about to begin.

Many of the world's top players -- and a couple of the world's top national teams -- are not in China for the FIBA World Cup, a 32-team extravaganza that begins Saturday. At stake over the next 16 days: The world championship, along with seven of the 11 remaining available berths in next summer's Tokyo Olympics.

And several teams figure they can be the one to thwart the United States' bid for an unprecedented third straight crown.

"We're here to go for gold," said Sasha Djordjevic, the coach of Serbia -- a team that some consider the tournament's gold-medal favorite. "Every game that we play will be the biggest game for us."

The first eight games of the tournament are Saturday, and things will move quite rapidly. The eight-game-a-day pace continues through Sept. 9, with quarterfinal games on Sept. 10 and 11, semifinals on Sept. 13 with the event capped by the gold- and bronze-medal games in Beijing on Sept. 15.

All told, 92 games will be played in eight cities.

"We have nothing to lose," said Japan guard Yuta Watanabe, whose team will face the U.S. in the group stage.

FIBA changed much about the tournament for this edition. The event was moved back a year; the last World Cup was in 2014, and it was bumped to 2019 this time around to avoid going against the FIFA World Cup for men's soccer in the same years. The field was expanded from 24 to 32 and qualifying rules were vastly altered largely to keep NBA and other pro-league players from helping their countries reach the event.

For some nations, that became a huge problem.

European champion Slovenia, the world's seventh-ranked team, is not in the World Cup. Same goes for world No. 9-ranked Croatia, which lost eight of its 12 qualifying games. Yet for other nations, the changes sparked opportunity -- Nigeria, Venezuela, Italy and Japan all qualified for the first time since 2006, and Poland made the field for the first time since 1967.

"The World Cup is an unbelievable competition," said Canada coach Nick Nurse, who doubles as coach of the NBA champion Toronto Raptors. "Great teams and coaches and scouting and work and preparation that will make anyone better for going through that. So I'm extremely honored and excited and humbled to be here."

Most of the top Americans aren't in the World Cup, a few because of injuries, other candidates cited schedule concerns. Of the 35 leading scorers from this past NBA season who would have been eligible to play for the U.S. team, only two -- Kemba Walker of the Boston Celtics and Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz - are wearing the red, white and blue in China.

"I'm more concerned with who is here than who isn't," U.S. coach Gregg Popovich said.

For the international teams, though, there's minimal concern about big-name absences. Greece is led by NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Serbia is led by All-NBA center Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and France features third-team All-NBA center Rudy Gobert.

And the host Chinese are hoping to make a splash as well.

"It's a rare opportunity for all of us," former NBA player Yi Jianlian, now the Chinese captain, said in Beijing earlier this week. "You can feel the special duty when you see the national flag on your chest."

Some other things to know as the World Cup begins:

FORMAT

Teams were drawn into eight groups of four for the opening round, with the two top teams from each group making the round of 16 and the others going into classification games to determine 17th through 32nd place. Games are four 10-minute quarters, so regulation is eight minutes shorter than an NBA game. The 3-point line is a bit closer than in the NBA, especially from the top of the arc - that's 22 feet, 2 inches in FIBA play, or 19 inches closer than the NBA stripe. The top two teams from the Americas, top two from Europe and top regional finisher form Asia, Africa and Oceania will clinch spots to join Japan in the 2020 Olympics; the last four spots in the 12-team field for the Tokyo Games will come down to qualifying next July.

BEST GROUP

The so-called "group of death" would be Group H, with Australia (which just beat the U.S. in a friendly to snap a 78-game winning streak by the Americans), Lithuania and Canada. All three of those teams are likely good enough to advance, yet only two will get to the round of 16 with a shot at the quarterfinals. Senegal rounds out that group.

U.S. RECORD

The Americans have won 19 consecutive World Cup (formerly known as the world championship) games, and are 14-0 in games in China when using a roster composed of NBA players (8-0 in the 2008 Olympics and 6-0 in other games there in 2006 and 2008). Mason Plumlee is the only player on this year's U.S. World Cup team that was on the gold-medal-winning roster at this event in 2014.

REFRESHER COURSE

Seven of the eight quarterfinalists from the 2014 World Cup are in this year's field. The U.S. beat Lithuania and Serbia beat France in the semifinals, and the Americans rolled to a 129-92 win in the gold-medal game behind 26 points from Kyrie Irving. France rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Lithuania for bronze 95-93.

GLOBAL GAME

FIBA, basketball's global organizing body, says the tournament will be televised in at least 176 countries and territories.

'Greek Freak' - five to watch at 2019 Basketball World Cup

The United States' biggest stars may be absent but a number of NBA players are still converging on China for the Basketball World Cup.

Ahead of tip-off on Saturday, Bill Sports Report picks out five big names to keep an eye on:

- Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) -

The NBA's MVP for the 2018-19 season is among three Antetokounmpo brothers in the Greece squad. The 24-year-old Milwaukee Bucks forward is joined by 27-year-old Thanasis, who spent the last two seasons with Panathinaikos but was snapped up as a free agent by the Bucks last month. Also playing for the Greeks in China will be Kostas Antetokounmpo, a 21-year-old signed last month by the Los Angeles Lakers. But it is Giannis, born in Greece to Nigerian parents, who is the undoubted pick of the siblings and is so good that he has been nicknamed the "Greek Freak".

- Kemba Walker (USA) -

Plenty has been made of Team USA missing its biggest names, but it will give NBA All-Star Walker more chance to shine. The Boston Celtics guard, 29, showed that he is primed to step up with a daunting display last week on the Americans' exhibition tour of Australia. Walker, captain for the evening, dazzled with 23 points in a 102-86 victory over the hosts in a warm-up game. But the two-time defending world champions lost to the Australians in a subsequent game -- snapping a run of 78 wins in a row in major competitions and exhibition games.

- Patty Mills (Australia) -

The 31-year-old guard was instrumental as Australia beat the United States for the first time ever, sinking a game-high 30 points. The history-making feat was particularly satisfying for Mills because the US are coached by Gregg Popovich -- Mills's boss at San Antonio Spurs. Mills believes that the Boomers can cause more shocks in China, although they must first negotiate a "Group of Death" also containing Senegal, Canada and Lithuania. "We want to be the best team in the world and are absolutely licking our chops at that opportunity," he said.

- Nikola Jokic (Serbia) -

With his lumbering physique, the seven-footer (2.13m) has entranced fans and sports analysts with his uncanny precision, especially the sharp passes that have seen him likened to an NFL quarterback. Serbia, losing finalists to the United States in 2014, will be hoping that the 24-year-old Denver Nuggets star -- who blends the role of centre and point guard -- can be the difference this time.

- Marc Gasol (Spain) -

The 34-year-old centre played a key role in the Toronto Raptors' historic run to the NBA crown and will now shoulder Spain's World Cup hopes. Gasol was the 2013 NBA Defensive Player of the Year and is a three-time NBA All-Star. He also helped Spain to the 2006 World Cup title as well as two Olympic silvers. In June, he exercised his $25.6 million one-season contract option to return to the Raptors next season.