With many of their best players resting, Australia fell short against Angola.
Thursday, as the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup wrapped up the Group Phase, the Australian team faced Angola in its final game. With the Aussies trailing Slovenia by one game and having lost the head-to-head matchup between the two nations, they had nothing to gain from their final appearance in Group D. Their fate was destined to be the third best team out of their group.
However, with only one win and a head-to-head loss to Mexico on their record, Angola had nothing to play either. They had been mathematically eliminated from the tournament round.
This scenario could have resulted in a number of possible outcomes, yet reality yielded the one in which the Australian National Team opted to rest its star players—including NBA athletes Aron Baynes and Matthew Dellavedova, no different than the strategy routinely employed by Gregg Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs. The Angolans, who should have been outmatched while playing just for their pride, suddenly were competing for a win, which led to their eight point, 91-83 victory.
The mere thought of a game, even one with nothing on the line, being determined because one team chose not to give their best effort seems to have really struck a never with Phoenix Suns All-NBA and Slovenian point guard Goran Dragic.
Basketball is a beautiful sport, there is no room for fixing the game like today Australia vs Angola!! @FIBA should do something about that!
— Goran Dragic (@Goran_Dragic) September 4, 2014
Since neither teams’ outcomes were affected by the Aussies choosing not to play their stars, it’s not really a reasonable observation … not unless he also protests rights of NBA teams—like the Spurs—to make the same choices during the NBA season.
Dragic and Slovenia move on to face the Dominican Republic, meanwhile those ‘bad’ Australians will be facing Turkey in their Round of 16 games. Mexico, which finished last in Group D, is doomed to face its unbeaten Group C leader and continental rival Team USA in its first match. Meanwhile, the Lithuanians will face New Zealand after securing Group D’s top spot.
The Round of 16 will begin on Saturday.
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Michael Brumagin writes the Tweet of the Day for SheridanHoops.com and is also a correspondent for BleacherReport.com. Follow @mbrumagin
Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Michael. Dragic gets the headlines though. Slovenia had the opportunity to finish first by winning their game after Australia played. They didn’t -did they throw it?
Australia would be happy to be on the opposite side of the draw to the USA for once. USA has knocked them out of the last two Olympics in the quarters.
Given how many games are being played so close together everyone needs to man manage as you point out.
Sorry Mr Dragic welcome to the world of navigating tournament play.