2018 3x3 World Tour: Debrecen Masters Review
The 3x3 World Tour delivered another two days of five-star basketball in the eastern Hungarian city. Some of the world's top 3x3 talent were on show, and they did not leave their audiences disappointed.
Gagarin and ZKalns both started the qualifying draw with big wins over British side Peterborough, and when they faced off in the final game, one point would be all the difference. It being in Gagarin’s favour, they advance to Pool C. Meanwhile, Zurich won over Bonn after an earlier defeat to Kragujevac, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Serbian team won their second game of the day, 21-13 over Bonn, and advanced to Pool D.
Gagarin began the main tournament with a tight loss to Riga, who sealed the game with a two-pointer from Karlis Lasmanis in the last thirty seconds. A later three-point loss to Belgrade saw Gagarin eliminated, and in the final game Riga overwhelmed Belgrade, winning by seven points and topping the pool. Belgrade also advanced as runners-up.
Other qualifier Kragujevac began the main draw with an eight-point loss to Amsterdam. In the second game they led Humpolec by five points just after the mid-way point of the game, but down the stretch Humpolec tied the scores at 19 with their field shooting and a two-pointer from Roman Zachrla won the game for the Czech team.
Humpolec couldn’t keep the momentum up in the final game, losing 22-9 to Amsterdam, but still made the quarter-finals thanks to their win over Kragujevac.
Native side Budapest’s two Pool B games were both ten point losses to both Liman then Ralja, who were left to fight it out for the top spot. Ralja led 6-0 for the first two minutes, but playing tough defence and shooting well in the low post, Liman went from six down to five up down the stretch. After a scrappy end to the final game, Liman’s comeback was completed by a single point. They won the group, with Ralja settling for second place.
After an opening defeat to Novi Sad in Pool A, tenth-rated Serbian side Vrbas pulled off a shock result, turning around a three-point deficit against Kranj behind some terrific three-point shooting from Strahinja Stojacic to defeat the Slovenian side by 21 points to 19.
Kranj’s last chance meant having to win over Novi Sad, but that proved too tall an order, they went out after a seven-point loss and Novi Sad went through as group winners with Vrbas as runners-up.
Liman and Riga both reached the semi-finals with nine-point victories over Humpolec and Vrbas respectively, while Amsterdam also made the final four with a 21-17 win over Ralja.
Novi Sad thought they had the remaining quarter-final in the bag, only for Belgrade to bring the scores to 20-19 with less than three minutes to go. The pressure was on in the game's conclusion, but Marko Savic drew the foul and made the game-winning shot for Novi Sad.
Novi Sad kept up their dominance into the semi-final stage, dispatching Amsterdam by 21 points to 15. Meanwhile, Riga had the better start to the second semi-final, but when Liman got up and running, their ability to knife through the lane paid off big for them. Riga did well to hold off advances from Liman, taking a late four-point lead and securing their spot in the final after a final floating layup from Karlis Lasmanis.
Unfortunately for Riga, they couldn't keep up their momentum in the final, where Novi Sad made their strength, agility and ingenuity count as they sealed victory in Debrecen with a final eleven-point routing of Riga.
In addition, there was also the matter of the dunk contest:
It won't be long until the tour reaches its next stop, and it just happens to be one of the most spectacular venues - Mexico City. The Mexico City masters gets underway next weekend, until then there's more on the 3x3 World Tour on their official website.
