Fond memories of past FIBA Basketball World Cups

VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - The countdown to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup is on. The tournament (formerly called the FIBA World Championship) tips off 30 August and believe me, the tournament is going to arrive quicker than you think.

Yes, Olympic basketball tournaments are fantastic, but World Cups have more teams and are tougher competitions.

The best day of FIBA Basketball World Cup action in recent memory was 1 September 2006.

There were two incredibly dramatic Semi-Finals that took place in Japan.

Greece upset the USA, 101-95, and Spain won in a thriller against Argentina, 75-74.

Theo Papaloukas and Sofoklis Schortsantis pick-and-rolled the USA to death, while Spain won their pulsating encounter when Argentina's Andres Nocioni missed a three-pointer from the right corner at the buzzer.

Spain, despite not having an injured Pau Gasol, then thrashed Greece in the Final.

There have always been unforgettable contests at World Cups.

In 2010, there were many.

Remember the Preliminary Round classics, including Germany's 82-81 win over Serbia and the USA's 70-68 victory over Brazil?

Germany didn't have Dirk Nowitzki, but they did have Jan Jagla, and he made a crucial three-ball before falling out of bounds in that game.

The USA escaped when Brazil's Marcelinho Huertas missed a couple of potential game-tying free-throws.

Leandro Barbosa also missed a shot at the death that would have forced overtime.

In the Eighth-Finals, Argentina downed Brazil 93-89 after getting 37 points and nine rebounds from Luis Scola.

Huertas cried as he walked off the court.

The 2010 event had plenty of fantastic games.

There was the buzzer-beating three-pointer by Serbia's Milos Teodosic in the Quarter-Finals to eliminate defending champions Spain, and also Turkey's 83-82 win over Serbia in the Semi-Finals.

It's always a big occasion when the best teams in international basketball gather.

And sometimes, it's just as special when the best teams don't show up.

In 1998, the United States had planned on sending Tim Duncan, Tim Hardaway, Vin Baker, Gary Payton, Terrell Brandon, Kevin Garnett, Tom Gugliotta, Grant Hill, Allan Houston, Christian Laettner, Glen Rice and Chris Webber but the labor strife in the NBA put an end to their participation.

Instead, an unheralded squad represented the country and very nearly made it to the Final.

Among those in the replacement team was Brad Miller, a center who'd eventually become a two-time NBA All-Star.

Miller was also in the 2006 team.

We saw some very good players in 1998 in Athens.

A Manu Ginobili who had yet to take the hoops world by storm played for Argentina.

He had turned 21 two days before the start of the tournament.

Sarunas Jasikevicius, who was still several years away from becoming a big star in Europe, played for Lithuania.

Australia's Andrew Gaze was still scoring truckloads of points and Yugoslavia had a fantastic line-up that included point guard Aleksander Djordjevic.

The USA, hosts Greece, Yugoslavia and Russia made it to an eventful final four.

There was the incredible finish to the Russia v United States Semi-Final.

With the game tied at 64-64 and just 10 seconds remaining, Russia inbounded the ball to Sergey Panov and he dribbled the length of the floor, racing past one opponent after after another before making a game-winning lay-up.

That Russia team was coached by the one of the country's most famous sports personalities, the late Sergei Belov.

Equally unforgettable was the other Semi-Final.

Greece's Dimitrios Papanikolaou, with Yugoslavia leading 76-71 in the closing seconds, spun and scored on a drive and looked for a foul but none was called.

Papanikolaou lost his cool. He grabbed the ball and kicked it high into the stands.

Yugoslavia won, 78-73, and then beat Russia in the title game, 64-62.

The 2002 FIBA World Championship was historic.

It was the first time that a USA team consisting of NBA players lost a game in international competition.

That American side fell to Argentina, Yugoslavia (in the Quarter-Finals) and then Spain.

New Zealand's Tall Blacks made an unexpected run to fourth place, and Yugoslavia needed overtime in the Final against the Argentinians but won, 87-74, after getting 27 points from Dejan Bodiroga.

I hope next year's World Cup will be the best of all.

Don't think about potential winners until you know which countries are going to crash the party.

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Qatar, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela have each expressed interest in obtaining one of the four wild cards.

Wild card teams can be very good.

Turkey received one in 2006 and made it to the Quarter-Finals, while Lithuania got one in 2010 and captured bronze.

The wild card decision will be made at FIBA's next Central Board meeting on 1-2 February 2014 in Barcelona.

Jeff Taylor

FIBA

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