USA Basketball Team Wins The 2010 FIBA World Championship

DenzBenz · Sep 12, 2010

Ryan Christopher DeVault - Associated Content - September 12, 2010

Team USA won gold at the FIBA World Championship 2010 tournament, beating Turkey in the Gold Medal game on Sunday. It is the first time since 1994 that the United States has won the FIBA World Championship, and this team brings to an end the long drought. It wasn't an easy task for Team USA to accomplish though, as they had to rely heavily on Kevin Durant for almost the entire tournament, and boy did he come through when it mattered most for them. After scoring 38 points in the semifinal match against Lithuania, he had to come up big again on Sunday as the United States took on Turkey in the final game of the tournament.

USA's Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant ended the game with 28 minutes on 10 for 17 shooting from the field. He played 39 of 40 possible minutes, and chipped in five rebounds to help the United States to the victory. Lamar Odom had another double-double for the team, scoring 15 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in 26 minutes of play. It wasn't as clear cut of a victory as some of the past wins we have seen from the United States basketball program, but it was good enough to win the Gold Medal Game by a final score of 81-64. Helping the cause again was point guard Russell Westbrook, who provided help to Durant in the form of 13 points, six rebounds, three assists, and two steals on the night.

USA's Rudy Gay

The United States vs. Turkey game was anything but clean, and many might have found the game to be far from "pretty" as well. The United States only shot 44% from the field, didn't play the hard-nosed defense they had shown in some other games during the tournament, and were only able to score 81 points on the night. It was still enough though, and it showed that this United States team was definitely prepared well for the tournament by Coach K and his staff. None of these 12 players were on the 2008 Olympic Team that won the Gold Medal, so it was a tough task getting everyone ready for the international tournament.

USA's Russell Westbrook

In the process of going undefeated and winning the Gold Medal, Team USA also reclaimed the No. 1 ranking in the world, overtaking Argentina with the points accrued through winning the FIBA World Championships. Now Team USA is both the defending Olympic and World champions of basketball.

Source: Associated Content