With a brand new NBA season just around the corner, we take a quick trip back in time from where we left off a month ago.
We have already seen what happened in the 1950, 1954 and 1959 World cups in previous segments of ‘Swishing the Nets’. We will now be looking at the events that transpired from the 4th to the 7th World cups.
1963 FIBA World cup- Brazil
We discussed previously how politics marred the 1959 FIBA World cup where the Soviet Union and Bulgaria withdrew halfway through the World cup in protest against the Taiwanese Government. The story of the 1963 FIBA World cup starts with yet another political controversy. With the first 3 World cups being held in South American countries, Philippines was chosen as the host of the 4th FIBA World cup. The matches were to be held at the 30,000 seater in Manila- ‘The Big Dome’. However Diosdado Macapagal, the 9th President of Philippines and his government had strong opinions against Communism and communist countries. As a result he refused the entry of Yugoslavia, which was becoming a major Basketball powerhouse by then, and other communist nations’ teams from entering the Philippines. This forced FIBA to re-locate the World cup to Brazil, who incidentally were the hosts of the 2nd FIBA World cup in 1954 and also the Defending World champions back then.
FIBA took disciplinary measures against the Philippines and suspended them; a huge loss for the nation considering their steady rise at previous World cups and the fact that they became FIBA Asia champions at Taipei just a few months before the World cup. This meant the tournament only had 13 teams. Brazil being the hosts got automatic qualification to the final rounds whereas the other 12 teams were categorized into 3 groups.
Group A- The Soviet Union, France, Uruguay and Canada
Group B- Yugoslavia, Puerto Rico, Japan and Peru
Group C- United States, Italy, Mexico and Argentina
The top 2 teams from the Group would qualify for the final rounds whereas the bottom 2 teams from the group would be relegated to the Classification round, where they would play each other to fight for rankings from number 8 to 13. The preliminary stages saw USA, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia dominating proceedings and entering the Final rounds unbeaten; with 3 wins each. Italy, France and Puerto Rico were the Runners-up of their respective groups with 2 wins and 1 loss each.
In the fight for the 8th place at the Classification rounds Argentina dominated winning 4 out of their 5 matches and booking the 8th spot at the World cup. In spite of beating Peru in the preliminary rounds, Japan could not register a single win in the Classification rounds and ended up dead last at the tournament.
The final rounds started with a bang with Yugoslavia beating USA 75-73, after having trailed by 2 at the half. Soviet Union handed Team USA their second defeat of the Final rounds in what was a 75-74 thriller. This was another match when the North American team failed to capitalize on a first half lead. But while all of this was happening, Brazil who had a well-rested team since they didn’t have to go through the preliminary round grind, was marching on, steadily demolishing all of their opponents. They beat Yugoslavia in a crucial encounter 90-71 and then they went on to beat the Soviet union 90-79. The defending champions ran away with the game in the 2nd half although the 1st half saw both teams going neck and neck at 43-42.
Yugoslavia then went on to beat the Soviet Union in what was a close encounter (69-67). This made the final clash of Brazil versus the USA the deciding match of the World cup; Brazil had to win if they were to become World champions and avoid the points for and against decision as Yugoslavia had 5 wins too. The finals proved to be intense with both teams tied at 39 points each at the half. However the Brazilian team under coach Togo Renan managed to keep their cool and beat the USA 85 points to 81 with Wlamir top scoring with 26 points and Amaury contributing 22 points. Thus an undefeated Brazil became back to back FIBA World champions writing themselves into the history books as the 1st team to do so.
FIBA World cup 1967
“It was so cold for some of the games at the games in 1967 that players needed electric heaters and blankets on the bench” reads an excerpt from an article of old. The 5th Basketball World Championship was hosted by yet another South American country in Uruguay, in the year 1967. There were 13 teams participating in total and the tournament format was very much similar to that in 1963 where the host country qualified automatically to the final rounds and the other 12 teams were put into 3 groups with the top 2 teams entering the Final rounds whilst the bottom 2 got demoted to the Classification round. Uruguay being the hosts was right up there at the top as favourites given the fact that the host country from a similar format became champions last time around (Brazil in 1963).
Day 1 of the World cup saw the USA, The Soviet union, Brazil and Yugoslavia, all favourites to win the title, beating their opponents in very convincing fashion setting the stage for what was going to be a very competitive World cup. USA beat Yugoslavia at a Round 1 clash by 5 points (76-71). Both teams qualified to the Final rounds from Group A. Soviet union were champs of Group B with Argentina as Runners-up and the 2 time defending champions Brazil ended up Group leaders of Group C with Poland following at 2nd place.
Mexico outplayed all their opponents at the classification round with a 5-0 record ending at 8th place in the World cup. Japan had an improved record from the previous World cup with 2 wins at the classification rounds ending up 11th place and this time it was Paraguay who ended up at 13th place unable to register a win.
Hosts Uruguay was served a bitter 18 point defeat at the first of the Final round matches at the hands of Brazil. Then came the crucial Brazil versus Soviet Union game where the scores were level at 42 apiece at the half. A last quarter swing saw the Soviet Union hand Brazil their first World cup defeat since 1959 (78-74). Brazil fell 3 points short against Yugoslavia too (84-87) thus losing out on their possible chance for a 3-Peat. Hosts Uruguay served Yugoslavia a major upset on the 9th of June with a nail biting, 1 point victory. This sealed the fate for Yugoslavia too as they had faced 3 defeats at the World cup. It was the Soviet Union which ended up the most dominant team of the World cup losing only 1 of their 9 World cup final round games (Versus USA 58-59) and it was the Soviet Union who was crowned FIBA World champions in 1967. A new age was dawning!
Join us again next week as we recollect incidents from the 1970 and 1974 FIBA World championships. Also make sure to catch all the spectacular Basketball action from the new NBA season. Until then keep balling!
