August 4th: On This Day, Canada Played Host to the FIBA World Championship
It’s one of FIBA’s flagship national events and on August 4th 1994, the first games of that year's FIBA World Championship, the 12th edition of the tournament, tipped off in Canada.
Specifically, the championship was held in two cities, Hamilton and Toronto. Games in Hamilton were playedd at the Copps Coliseum, while two venues in Toronto were used; the historic Maple Leaf Gardens and the Skydome, at the time the largest indoor sports venue in the country.
Canada qualified as hosts, while fifteen more teams completed the field; Angola, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Croatia, Cuba, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Korea, Puerto Rico, Russia, Spain and the United States of America.
The 1994 World Championship was the first that permitted NBA players to compete - a polarising rule which some to this day believe is giving an unfair advantage to countries with high NBA stock and creating a disparity between the established and developing national teams.
At the time Canada's best-known player was European star Greg Wiltjer, but the squad boasted two players who went on to great things in their later careers: future Hall-of-Famer Steve Nash (at the time playing with the Santa Clara Broncos), three-time NBA champion Rick Fox (then a rotation player for the Boston Celtics).
Canada’s first game saw them pitted against Angola at Maple Leaf Gardens, where they won 83-52. They followed this up with a big victory over Argentina the next day, and though they slipped up against Russia in game three, they managed to qualify for the second group stage.
Losses to Greece and Croatia in the second phase of the competition saw Canada out of the running for the title. However, they moved on to a classification round, where they would finish in seventh place with a 104-76 win over China on the last day of competition.
Elsewhere, most eyes were on the American team - dubbed Dream Team II, as they followed on from the Dream Team who stormed to victory at the Olympic Games two years earlier. The new allowance for NBA players saw many of the biggest basketball stars suit up for the team. These included Dominique Wilkins, Reggie Miller, Alonzo Mourning, Shawk Kemp and Shaquille O’Neal, who would go on to win the tournament’s MVP award.
The USA were drawn into a tough Group A - which also included Spain, Brazil and China, but they pulled off big wins against all three, breaking the 100-point mark each time.
The American team also made short work of Australia, Puerto Rico and Russia in the second group stage, then dispatched Greece by 39 points in the semi final before finishing off with a 137-91 win in the final over Russia to claim their third world title.
Despite having the pick of top talent, the USA would then see a drought in World Championship gold in the next three editions in the tournament. They finished third in 1998 and 2006 and sixth in 2002, when they were hosts. It wasn't until 2010 in Turkey, when the so-called "B-Team" ended the cold streak and brought the Naismith trophy back to American soil.
