McDonald's Championships
on Britball
Spurs uphold NBA honour
Mark Woods in Milan
The last time the United States and Italy clashed in the final of a major basketball tournament was in the 1960 Olympics in Rome, when a US side containing such legends as Jerry West and Oscar Robertson scored a gold medal.
Three decades on, it was the San Antonio Spurs who once again affirmed the superiority of American basketball over the rest o the planet defeating Vasco da Gama of Brazil 103-68 in the final of the McDonald's championship in Milan.
If the Spurs had been lukewarm the previous night, they were now on fire, scorching the Brazilians in an exhibition display. Hottest of all was eventual winner of the Drazen Petrovic MVP award Tim Duncan who exploded for a game best 32 points, of which ten arrived consecutively as the Spurs led 24-10 after eight minutes.
To their credit, the pride of Rio de Janiero had come to compete rather than collect autographs and their American guard Charles Byrd led a spirited second quarter recovery to draw the Texans back within five points.
But when David Robinson hit five points in a 13-2 run, the inevitably of the result was all but confirmed. The three-time Olympian may be a step slower than in his MVP days but he can still work the game inside the paint better than almost anyone and his moves confounded the Brazilians.
Half time passed with a 56-35 scoreline but Spurs coach Gregg Popovich creditably retained his starting five for the re-start and they combined efficiently to open up a 24 point lead midway through that period.
But with inter-American pride at stake, Vasco stepped up their gear as a three pointer from Rogerio Klafke - who had missed his first six shots- sparked a run which cut the San Antonio lead to just 11 points at the close of the penultimate quarter.
The Spurs racked up 24 of the final 26 points as Brazil's boys scored only once in the final quarter.
Popovich sent in his second string and there was little even the reserves could do to prevent the NBA continuing their unbroken run of success at this tournament.
"We played a lot better tonight and we improved as the game progressed," said Spurs coach Popovich, "We learnt about what we need to do when we go back to the NBA and in difficult circumstances my guys came together."
Byrd led the Brazilians on 17 points.
1 2 3 4 Final SAS 28 28 23 24 103 Vas 21 15 30 2 68 All Tournament Team
Tim Duncan, SA
Avery Johnson, SA
Charles Byrd, V da G
Gianmarco Pozzecco, Varese
Jose Vargas , V da G - Francesco Vescovi, Varese (tied)
Copyright Britball. Download is subject to Britball's Terms of Service.