12 Oct 2016
GUANGZHOU (2016 FIBA 3x3 World Championships) – Five more teams had a clean sweep on the second day at the 2016 FIBA 3x3 World Championships in Guangzhou, China on 11 October. Glenn Khobuntin (Philippines’ men) and Krystal Leger-Walker (New Zealand’s women) were outstanding and the European Champs showed an appetite for more silverware. Here's our wrap-up.
Team of the Day: Slovenia (men)
The European Champs wasted no time on Wednesday, winning back-to-back games before the limit. Even more impressive, they kept both opponents under 10 points (9 for Uruguay, 7 for Indonesia). The rejuvenated Simon Finzgar led Slovenia with 13 points including 4 shots from behind the arc.
More 2-0 perfect records: Spain (men); China, France, New Zealand (women)
Game of the Day: Romania – Philippines (19-21) The challenge was difficult on paper for the Philippines, facing 3 of the 4 players who helped Romania win the 2014 FIBA 3x3 European Championships. It became improbable after a few seconds when Russel Escoto hurt his shoulder and the Filipino squad were forced to play the rest of the game without substitute. Glenn Khobutnin responded with an array of devastating drives to the basket (10 pts), Mark Belo added 6 and Karl Dehesa hit the nail on the Romanian coffin with an ice-cold two-pointer.
Player of the Day: Glenn Khobuntin (Philippines) While Mark Belo and Russel Escoto came with some hype following their performance at the FIBA Asia Challenge, Khobuntin’s presence nearly came unnoticed. Things changed quickly in the upset of Romania, where he showed great finishing skills after contact at the rim. The 25-year-old added five in a narrow loss against Spain.
Stat of the Day: Krystal Leger-Walker (New Zealand) – 1 point
Scoring is not everything. What if the player of the day in the women’s category had scored just 1 point in 2 games? After shining in the FIBA 3x3 U18 World Championships last year, the daughter of two-time Olympian Leanne Walker wowed the Chinese crowd with her court vision and crazy bounce passes.
Individual Contest: Shoot-Out Contest They qualified for the final (Saturday 15 October): Paula Palomares (Spain) and Natalie Romeo (USA)
The men’s shoot-out contest qualifiers will be held on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 October.
Day 3: 2.00-10.00pm on youtube.com/FIBA3x3 with the return of the US teams, Serbia’s men and the women’s European Champs Hungary.
FIBA