The 2023 FIBA Men's Basketball World Cup will open on August 25 in the Philippines, Japan and Indonesia, which is the first basketball World Cup in FIBA's history to be jointly hosted by multiple countries.
On August 22, the Chinese Basketball Association officially announced the 12-man roster of the Chinese Men's Basketball World Cup: Zhao Jiwei, Zhao Rui, Hu Mingxuan, Cui Yongxi, Zhang Zhenlin, Zhu Junlong, Li Kaier, Zhou Peng, Fu Hao, Zhou Qi, Hu Jinqiu, Wang Zhelin.
On August 23, the Chinese men's basketball team will leave for Manila, the capital of the Philippines. In this competition, the Chinese men's basketball team is in the same group as Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico, and the advantage is that the venue is all in Manila, and there is no need to transfer. In addition, in addition to Serbia, the Chinese men's basketball team has hopes to win against the other two opponents in the group stage. The disadvantage is that the order of the opponents in the three games is from strong to weak, which is not conducive to the gradual entry of the team.
According to the grouping and format, if it advances to the round of 16, the Chinese men's basketball team will compete in the knockout stage in Manila. If it fails to advance to the round of 16, the Chinese men's basketball team will also stay in Manila and enter the qualifying round of 17-32, playing a match against the two teams ranked third and fourth in the four teams in Group A (Italy, Philippines, Dominica, Angola), and the results of a total of 5 games in the group stage and qualifying stage will determine the final ranking of the team in this World Cup. Considering that the Asian 6 teams have the possibility of deciding an Olympic place by qualifying rounds, for the Chinese men's basketball team, the three games of the group stage can be said to be a life and death battle. Let's take a closer look at the 3 opponents of the Chinese men's basketball team in the group stage.
Serbia: the strongest opponent in the group stageIn the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup, the first opponent of the Chinese men's basketball team in the group stage is Serbia, which is also the team that Chinese coach Čordjevic once coached. Although NBA New Finals MVP Jokic, as well as many NBA players such as Mišić and Boban Marianovic, are absent from the World Cup, this Serbian team is still the strongest team in Group B of the Chinese team. In this World Cup, their first goal is to win the Paris Olympics (2 places in Europe) and then compete for a medal.
The Serbian men's basketball team is a traditional powerhouse, but in recent years, their international results have been less than satisfactory. It is worth mentioning that the current head coach of the Serbian team, Svetirsav Pešić, is the same coach of the former Yugoslav team that led the team to win the gold medal at the 2002 World Championships. Two years ago, in the Tokyo Olympics qualification round, Serbia lost to Italy, and did not qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, and the old coach Pešić was appointed again in danger.
Jokic's absence has transformed Serbia from a championship-contender to a card-grabbing team, with two core players currently playing with the Hawks, shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and power forward Nikola Jovic playing for the Heat. As captain of the national team, Bogdanovic has a lot of experience and projection, and he helped Serbia to finish runners-up in the World Cup in 2014. In a warm-up match with the Chinese men's basketball team on August 20, he came off the bench to deliver 19 points and 6 assists. At just 20 years old, Jovic is 2.08 meters tall and an excellent team player who has great ability at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends. In addition, playmaker Avramovic is the core of Serbia's backfield. In the 2023 World Qualifiers, Avramovic averaged 17.3 points per game in seven games and ranked first on the team with an average of 2.3 steals per game. In the last three warm-up matches, Serbia first easily defeated Puerto Rico 110:75, then beat China 87:64 and Brazil 89:85.
In the last Men's Basketball World Cup, Jordjevic led Serbia to an average of more than 40 points per game in the first four games, but lost to Spain 69:81 in the key match for the first place in the second stage, and then faced South American powerhouse Argentina in the 1/4 final, and finally lost to the final four. Four years later, Djordjevic will lead the Chinese men's basketball team to another World Cup, starting with their old club. Looking forward to this match, Qiao Shuai said: "Serbia team is the strongest team in Group B, this match has special significance for me, and the Chinese team will definitely go all out to play the first game of the World Cup. However, for the Chinese men's basketball team, against Serbia, there is little hope of winning, and Qiao Shuai grasps the time to grind the lineup and adjust the state is the most realistic choice.
Serbia's 14-man squad:Stefan Jovic, Aleksa Avramovich, Bogdan Bogdanovich, Nemanja Nedovic, Marko Gudurić, Vanja Malenkovich, Alexei Radanov, Ogern Dobrik, Dejan Davidovac, Filip Petrosev, Nikolai Jovic, Dusan Ristic, Nikolai Milutinov, Borissa Simanich
Group Stage Matchups:20:00 Beijing time on August 26
Serbia vs China
South Sudan: How mysterious is the "mysterious master"?The second opponent in the group stage of the Chinese men's basketball World Cup is South Sudan, a new African team, which is a "mysterious division".
The South Sudan team is "mysterious" because we still don't know the true level of this team. The South Sudan men's basketball team is currently ranked 62nd in the world and is second to last out of 32 teams competing in the 2023 Men's World Cup, just above Cape Verde, ranked 64th in the world. However, in the previous World Cup African qualifiers, South Sudan achieved an excellent record of 11 wins and 1 loss, and the team qualified for the World Cup for the first time in its history. On August 10, South Sudan announced the training list for the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup, and the team added a number of strong reinforcements, and the overall strength increased significantly.
The biggest star on this team is Lakers player Gabriel, who is also the only active NBA player in South Sudan. Last season, Gabriel played 68 games for the Lakers, averaging 15.1 minutes per game, contributing 5.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.4 steals and 0.4 blocks, making him an important rotation player for the Lakers. In addition, South Sudan has brought in a number of former NBA players. 25-year-old guard Carrick Jones, who played in the NBA regular season for the Mavericks, Nuggets and Bulls, played in the NBA Development League last season, won the regular season MVP, and averaged 26.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 7 assists per game. In addition, Shayok, 28, played for the 76ers and Masyan also played in the NBA at the Hornets, both of whom played in the NBA Development League and the Israel League last season, respectively.
Judging by the performance of the last few warm-up matches, South Sudan has shown some quality, beating Venezuela 80:61, Iran 77:71, Brazil 75:85 and Australia 67:88. From the perspective of technical and tactical characteristics, the advantages of the South Sudanese team are the physical talent and athletic ability of the players, the fast conversion speed of attack and defense, and the fight for rebounds without falling behind. The team's weaknesses are relatively low outside shooting percentage, relatively single offensive methods, insufficient scoring continuity, and easy to play "emotional balls". Compared with South Sudan, although the Chinese men's basketball team is slightly inferior in overall strength, it is better than its opponent in terms of game experience, so it must strive to win the opponent in order to be expected to qualify from the group.
Group Stage Matchups:Beijing time on August 28, 16:00
China VS South Sudan
Puerto Rico: The old "wrongdoer" of the Chinese men's basketball teamThe third opponent in the group stage of the Chinese men's basketball World Cup is Puerto Rico, which is not much different from the Chinese team and is also an old opponent of the Chinese team. The two teams have met several times in warm-up matches and staged court clashes. In the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, the Chinese men's basketball team and Puerto Rico played each other twice, both losing by small points. However, in the group stage of this World Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team still has the ability to compete with Puerto Rico.
At the beginning of this year, the 39-year-old former NBA star Arroyo chose to officially retire. Subsequently, Lone Rangers defender Barria was determined to miss the World Cup due to injury. As a result, the Puerto Rican team that participated in this World Cup has declined compared to the past, and there are no current NBA players in the team, and Taylor Davis, Clavier, and Holland have had brief NBA experience and currently play in the European League and the NBA Development League.
Puerto Rico's playing style belongs to the typical American team style, the players are tough, fast, physical, aggressive, strong guard, and will bring a lot of challenges to the Chinese men's basketball team in terms of physical confrontation. However, judging by the record of warm-up games, the Puerto Rican team played averagely, with 1 win and 5 losses in 6 games: losing to the United States, Italy and Serbia, losing 13 points to Lithuania, losing 12 points to Latvia, and only winning 93:86 against Dominica, averaging 76.5 points per game and conceding 98 points per game. If the Chinese men's basketball team can win South Sudan, it can take advantage of the victory and pursue the final battle with Puerto Rico. Considering that the average height of the opponent is not as good as that of the Chinese team, as long as Zhou Qi recovers in time on the inside, coupled with the brilliant rejuvenation of head coach Jordjevic, the Chinese men's basketball team still has hope to win Puerto Rico.
Group Stage Matchups:August 30, 20:00 Beijing time
China vs Puerto Rico
Reporter: Li Fujie Editor: Hou Chao Proofreader: Tang Qi