2017 3x3 World Tour Final Report
For the twelve teams who touched down in the Chinese capital, it all came down to this. After three months and seven stops across three different continents, the sides who have performed the best throughout this year's exceptional 3x3 World Tour faced off in one final effort to capture the title.
The pool stage opened with top-seeded Novi Sad AlWadha taking on one of the teams of this year’s tour, Krakow. It was a close call, but Novi Sad had the edge to take the opening win, 22-19. Krakow looked to recover in their second game against Kranj, but the Slovenians took an early lead and weathered the storm when Krakow attempted a late comeback. Despite the best efforts of all their players, Krakow's failure to gel in Beijing resulted in a second straight loss, and early elimination.
Pool A finished with one of the most anticipated match ups of Day One, with Novi Sad taking on Kranj. After a close start, Novi Sad then found their rhythm; their ball movement, agility and strength saw them pile on the points. Kranj held them off right to the end, with the final score 20-13 in Novi Sad’s favour. Despite the result, both teams would advance to Day Two.
Ljubljana beat Lausanne 15-10 at the start of Pool B, and in the second game it took to the end of the game for the Swiss team to find a way back against Belgrade. Smart play from Natan Jurkovitz gave Lausanne a one-point lead with forty seconds to go, and then tipped in a loose ball in traffic moments later to give them the 21 points they needed to secure a crucial win over the otherwise impressive Serbian side.
Pool B finished with a really close game between Ljubljana and Belgrade, with never more than two points between the teams. With less than ten seconds to go in the game and the scores tied, Ljubljana’s Jasmin Hercegovac found an open spot on the floor, faked his opponent and hit the two-point shot, dramatically winning the game for the Slovenians and ensuring their place at the top of the group.
Humpolec suffered a heavy defeat to Liman, 21-14, as Pool C got underway, and the Czech side found themselves on the back foot in this, the most competitive and unpredictable of the four groups. Their second game against Riga was tense and scrappy, but they took an early lead and their on-target shooting from all over the floor saw them take down their Latvian opponents, 21 to 18. Now it was Riga who were staring elimination in the face.
Against Liman, Riga defended well and contested every possession. At one point they had a ten-point lead over the Serbians, and by the time Liman came into their form and began seeking a way back Riga had already triumphed 21 points to 17. All three teams in Pool C finished with the same win/loss record, but having suffered the heaviest defeat, Humpolec were the unfortunate ones. Riga advanced as pool winners, with Liman in second place.
Saskatoon faced difficult opposition against Zemun in their first game, the speed and power of Zemun easily saw them take the win over the Canadians, 16-14. Saskatoon's second game against Piran went down to the wire, even in the extra period when the scores ended tied at thirteen. Michael Linklater put the first point of the extra period on the board for Saskatoon, but a foul on Simon Finzgar resulted in two foul shots, both of which he made. This ended the game in favour of Piran, and also ended the story for Saskatoon.
Against Zemun, Piran were well organised, patrolled all the right spots on the floor and controlled the game from start to finish. Piran were cool and composed, despite the best attempts from Zemun to instigate a comeback, and they held on to their lead which finished at eight points. Zemun would live to fight another day, but their road to the final was now far rockier.
Image: FIBA.com
Novi Sad met third-seeded Liman in the first quarter final, but the more seasoned side made short work of the challengers, dispatching them 21 points to 13. In the next matchup, despite a great all-around performance from Lausanne’s Gilles Martin, his team was eliminated by a composed and confident Piran, who defeated the Swiss team by a nine-point deficit.
Following this, another hotly anticipated encounter between Ljubljana and Zemun was a tight affair right to the end. Zemun’s ball movement and improved shooting gave them a two-point lead going into the final minute of play. Ljubljana cut the lead to one, but Zemun pulled out all the stops in defending their opponents and preventing a late upset. Beijing bade farewell to another star of the year’s tour, as Zemun prepared for the semi finals.
In the last quarter final, Kranj took an early lead against Riga, but they were matched shot-for-shot by the Latvians. It was a tense, low-scoring game, with most of the points coming in the last three minutes of play. Nauris Miezis ability to find open teammates and open spots on the floor gave Riga a four-point lead late in the game, to which Kranj’s long-range shooting efforts closed the gap to one. A crucial two-pointer from Miezis would be the difference in this game, though, Kranj succumbed to the pressure and fell to Riga, 11 points to 9.
Piran put Novi Sad under pressure in the first semi final. Though Novi Sad didn't show the same control they have been previously and had plenty of shots fall short, they excelled at stopping Piran going to the basket. Smart play and shot selection at a crucial point in the game from Novi Sad would give them the edge they needed, and a foul shot from Dusan Bulut shortly before the final whistle meant the team would find themselves in a familiar situation: contesting the World Tour final.
In the second semi final, bumbling defence from Zemun allowed Riga to take a 5-1 lead after two minutes. Zemun, however, did not panic and got back into the game at their own pace. Excellent shooting from this game’s standout, Bogdan Dragovic, gave Zemun the lead, which Riga cut down to just one thanks to their ability to knife through Zemun’s defence.
Though unfavoured, Zemun silenced their critics with a convincing performance in this game, and in the final minute, a momentary lapse in defensive awareness from Riga saw Dragovic hand the ball off to a wide-open Lazar Rasic for the game-winning two-pointer, sending Zemun to the final.
Two teams - one whose surge was expected, the other a surprise package - in one final game.
For all that was at stake, it was a very free-flowing start to the final, with both teams exchanging shots, yet with Novi Sad being the more imposing presence. Both teams worked hard on defence in the first half of the game; not letting up, not allowing easy looks and contesting every loose ball.
Novi Sad's lightning-fast offence then saw them take a seven point lead, and twice they tried to pull away only for Zemun to halt the charge with some superb long-range shooting. Lazar Rasic cut the deficit down to two with a minute to go, then Zemun took advantage of some slack alertness and defence from Novi Sad to tie the game. A missed ball from Dusan Bulut was collected by Bogdan Dragovic with ten seconds to go. Bulut chased down Dragovic, who put up a hail mary shot that hit nothing but net - as if the tour was saving its most astounding moment right for the very end.
The incredible end to Zemun’s fantastic comeback was met with an eruption from the crowd, as the team and the witnesses in Beijing celebrated their victory as champions of the 2017 FIBA 3x3 World Tour.
With that, the 2017 3x3 World Tour comes to an end - an exceptional tour with some great performances from athletes who have now brought 3x3 basketball to the forefront and are now establishing it as a serious sport. The good news is there are plenty more 3x3 tournaments between now and the start of the 2018 World Tour.
