The United States men's national basketball team won the gold medal at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup held in Spain. Prior to 2014, the event was known as the FIBA World Championship. The 24-team tournament was held from August 30 to September 14, and the victory automatically qualified the U.S. into the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.[1] Kyrie Irving was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament.
The United States had automatically qualified for the World Cup by virtue of the gold medal won by their 2012 Olympic team.[2] Despite having many newcomers, the Americans were expected to win the World Cup,[3] and advanced to the knockout phase after starting the tournament 5–0 during the group stage. They were an undefeated 9–0 in the tournament, winning by an average margin of 33.0 points. The United States was just the third country in World Cup history to repeat as champions. Combined with their 2010 World Championship along with gold by their 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams, they also became the first country in FIBA basketball history to win four consecutive major titles.[4]
- ^ Keh, Andrew (August 2, 2014). "Paul George's Injury Fuels Concerns in N.B.A. Over International Competition". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 6, 2014.
- ^ "Deron Williams intrigued by World Cup of Basketball". USA Today. Associated Press. September 10, 2012. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
ap_08282014was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Stein, Marc (September 14, 2014). "Rapid reaction: USA routs Serbia for gold". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on September 16, 2014.
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