2017 3x3 World Tour Lausanne Masters Report
The 3x3 World Tour moves on to the Swiss city of Lausanne, where it would see the hardest-fought and most unpredictable tournament of the 2017 competition so far.
Estonian side Paide were really no match for Novi Sad or home team Lausanne, who both saw Paide off with double-digit victories in Pool A. As the two teams faced off for the pool's top spot, Lausanne looked the more determined and athletic team. They had an early lead, which Novi Sad fought against to even up the game, but could not take the lead from the Swiss.
Novi Sad were uncharacteristically off-target in this game, which Lausanne won 14-17, much to the appreciation of the home crowds.
Meanwhile, in Pool B, Logatec of Slovenia were dispatched first by Zemun, who were strong in the paint, then by Riga, who overwhelmed their opponents with their long-range shooting and ability to change the game up.
The match-up between Zemun and Riga was one of the best games of the tournament - exciting, unpredictable, and with some great displays of the team's basketball talents. Although they matched each other on most of their shots, it would be Riga's ability to mix up their game play and resilience that would see them come on top of this game, and their pool, beating Zemun 21-11.
In Pool C, terrific passing and defence saw Split easily take the win over Mestre, and they looked to take that energy and skills into their final group game against Krakow. In the game in question, after a tight opening, the expert shooting of Michael Hicks and the Krakow defence seemed to overwhelm the Croatian team, who could barely get a shot off.
Krakow won this final game 21 points to 8, and having also defeated Mestre earlier in the day, would advance as winners of Pool C with Split joining them as runners-up - though both teams performances here signalled they could pull off big things in the remainder of the tournament.
There were no real surprises when Slovenian side Kranj beat French team Cergy 20-16 in the opening game of Pool D, but in their game against Saskatoon, Cergy turned many heads. The French team matched a five-point deficit with less than 30 seconds to take the game to a decider. A tense, hotly contested overtime period was ended by an unexpected two-pointer from Bandja Sy of Cergy - the lowest seeds in the Lausanne Masters defeating one of the highest rated teams in the world, and in dramatic fashion.
Saskatoon had to then beat Kranj to qualify, but they couldn't manage it. The Slovenian team winning another tight contest 19-16 to send the Canadians home without a win in Lausanne. Kranj advance as pool winners with Cergy in second place.
Cergy could not carry on their winning ways on day two, and were defeated by Lausanne 16-12 in the first quarter final. Then, following a tight initial contest, Krakow broke away from Zemun to win 19-13 and secure their semi-final place. Split's shooters gave them an big lead in their quarter final against Riga, but the alert and speedy Latvians would go on to turn the game around, winning by eight points at the end.
In the remaining last eight matchup, Kranj took an early lead over Novi Sad, and it looked like the dominant force of the 3x3 World Tour was heading for the exits from Lausanne. The Slovenians held on to the final minute, when their game plan started to fall apart. Dejan Majstorovic tied the scores, and then a final tip-in from Marko Savic with seconds left completed the remarkable comeback from Novi Sad, who won by a single point.
The first semi final between Lausanne and Krakow was, again, a tight affair to begin with, but as it went on Lausanne started to pull away with a series of two-pointers from Marco Lehmann. Despite the best defensive efforts from Krakow, Lausanne would not be denied in their attempts at basket. Westher Molteni sealed it with two minuest to go, sending the crowd beserk and Lausanne to the final.
The second semi final was not as big a contest, Novi Sad went on an early scoring run and did not look back - there was nothing Riga's defence could do to stop them. Riga were fantastic in the tournament, and held on here to the end, but it was all she wrote for the plucky Latvian side as Novi Sad advanced to the final, winning here 18 points to 13.
Novi Sad showed no mercy in the final, scoring three points in the first minute and were just relentless from then on. Fans watched in despair as the Serbians went on an eight-point scoring run, and it wouldn't be until two and a half minutes in until Lausanne got themselves on the score board.
Lausanne started to get themselves back into the game, but it's fair to say the damage had already been done, as the points kept coming in for Novi Sad, mostly from layups. The Natan Jurkovitz-Gilles Martin combination gave the home crowd hope, but Novi Sad stayed on course and they ran out the clock, winning the game 20-15 and taking their third consecutive World Tour tournament victory.
As well as the main tournament, there were some spectacular moves on display from Vadim "Miller" Poddubchenko, Arek Przybylski and Dmitry "Smoove" Krivenko in the dunk contest:
Lausanne defied many expectations to reach the final, putting in a sensational 3x3 tournament performance. Their best moves can be viewed here:
The 2017 tour barely pauses for breath, with the next edition taking place this Thursday - the 31st - in Debrecen, Hungary. Head to the official website of the Debrecen Masters to find out who will be taking part in the next instalment of the World Tour.
