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| Event type

Basketball, Men

Date17 September – 1 October 2000
StatusOlympic
LocationSydney SuperDome, Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales / The Dome and Exhibition Complex, Olympic Park, Sydney, New South Wales
Participants144 from 12 countries
FormatRound-robin pools advanced teams to classification matches.

In 1998, Yugoslavia won the World Championship, with the United States finishing third. Although it would appear that the rest of the world had caught up to the USA in men’s basketball, the USA team at the Athens Worlds consisted of lesser-known pros. The US again chose an NBA All-Star team to represent them in Sydney and it was expected that they would again win easily. Among European teams, there was no consensus favorite to overtake the Americans. At the 1998 Worlds, Russia had won the silver medal, while the podiums had been mounted at the 1997 Europeans by Yugoslavia, Italy and Russia, but in 1999, Italy won the European Championship, with Spain second, and Yugoslavia third. Lithuania had finished no better than fifth at those preliminary international contests.

The US opened the Sydney tournament with two easy wins over China and Italy. But then they faced Lithuania and won by only 85-76. However, the US was undefeated in Group A and went to the quarter-finals, where they handily defeated Russia, 85-70. The semi-finals saw a re-match against Lithuania, and the myth of American basketball dominance would finally end – probably forever.

Lithuania did not win. But with 1:36 left in the game, former University of Maryland player Šarūnas Jasikevičius sank two free throws to give Lithuania an 80-79 lead. The USA responded and pulled ahead 84-81. But Jasikevičius sank a short jump shot with a bit over 9 seconds left, to cut the lead to one point. Lithuania fouled Jason Kidd, who hit one free throw but missed the second. Jasikevičius then came downcourt and launched a 22-foot 3-point attempt, going for the win. It missed, and the USA won, 85-83.

In the final, the US took an early lead against France. But midway thru the second half, France also laughed in the face of American hoops dominance, and cut the lead to four points with just over four minutes. The American team responded, however, and won 85-75, finishing the tournament undefeated and winning another gold medal. But things were no longer the same in international basketball.

PosNrTeamNOCWLPtsPoints
1United StatesUSA8016760–587Gold
2FranceFRA448591–574Silver
3LithuaniaLTU5310620–558Bronze
4AustraliaAUS448596–634
5ItalyITA438463–473
6YugoslaviaSCG438494–483
7CanadaCAN5210582–524
8Russian FederationRUS346520–499
9SpainESP244433–440
10People's Republic of ChinaCHN244432–503
11New ZealandNZL152377–476
12AngolaANG060363–480

Preliminary Round (17 – 25 September 2000)

Group A (17 – 25 September 2000)

Round-robin pools.

PosNOCWLPtsPoints
1USA5010505–359
2ITA326332–349
3LTU326372–339
4FRA234372–374
5CHN234368–419
6NZL050307–416

Match #117 Sep 11:30ITA 50 – 48LTU
Match #217 Sep 9:30FRA 76 – 50NZL
Match #317 Sep 21:30USA 119 – 72CHN
Match #419 Sep 11:30CHN 75 – 60NZL
Match #519 Sep 16:30USA 93 – 61ITA
Match #619 Sep 19:30LTU 81 – 63FRA
Match #721 Sep 9:30ITA 78 – 66NZL
Match #821 Sep 14:30FRA 82 – 70CHN
Match #921 Sep 16:30USA 85 – 76LTU
Match #1023 Sep 9:30LTU 82 – 66CHN
Match #1123 Sep 19:30USA 102 – 56NZL
Match #1223 Sep 21:30ITA 67 – 57FRA
Match #1325 Sep 11:30LTU 85 – 75NZL
Match #1425 Sep 14:30CHN 85 – 76ITA
Match #1525 Sep 16:30USA 106 – 94FRA

Group B (17 – 25 September 2000)

Round-robin pools.

PosNOCWLPtsPoints
1CAN418433–373
2SCG418372–338
3AUS326408–407
4RUS326367–328
5ESP142349–376
6ANG050303–410

Match #117 Sep 14:30SCG 66 – 60RUS
Match #217 Sep 16:30CAN 101 – 90AUS
Match #317 Sep 19:30ESP 64 – 45ANG
Match #419 Sep 9:30CAN 99 – 54ANG
Match #519 Sep 14:30RUS 71 – 63ESP
Match #619 Sep 21:30SCG 80 – 66AUS
Match #721 Sep 11:30CAN 91 – 77ESP
Match #821 Sep 19:30SCG 73 – 64ANG
Match #921 Sep 21:30AUS 75 – 71RUS
Match #1023 Sep 11:30SCG 78 – 65ESP
Match #1123 Sep 14:30RUS 77 – 59CAN
Match #1223 Sep 16:30AUS 86 – 75ANG
Match #1325 Sep 9:30RUS 88 – 65ANG
Match #1425 Sep 19:30CAN 83 – 75SCG
Match #1525 Sep 21:30AUS 91 – 80ESP

Quarter-Finals (28 September 2000)

Single-elimination.

Match #128 Sep 15:00AUS 65 – 62ITA
Match #228 Sep 17:00FRA 68 – 63CAN
Match #328 Sep 20:00LTU 76 – 63SCG
Match #428 Sep 22:00USA 85 – 70RUS

Semi-Finals (29 September 2000)

Single-elimination.

Match #129 Sep 19:30FRA 76 – 52AUS
Match #229 Sep 21:30USA 85 – 83LTU

Final Round (26 September – 1 October 2000)

Medal round.

Match 1/201 Oct 13:00USA 85 – 75FRA
Match 3/401 Oct 11:00LTU 89 – 71AUS
Match 5/630 Sep 14:00ITA 69 – 59SCG
Match 7/830 Sep 12:00CAN 86 – 83
AET
RUS
Match 9/1026 Sep 16:30ESP 84 – 64CHN
Match 11/1226 Sep 14:30NZL 70 – 60ANG

Rankings

Points
Scoring Average
2-point Field Goals Made
2-point Field Goals %
3-point Field Goals Made
3-point Field Goals %
Total Field Goals Attempted
Total Field Goals %
Free Throws Made
Free Throws %
Total Rebounds
Assists
Steals
Turnovers
Blocked Shots
Personal Fouls