World Tour recap - Split and Ljubljana survive Madrid bullfight

The famous Plaza de Toros in central Madrid provided the stage to determine the last two qualifying places for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final.

A field of 15 teams from all over Europe gathered on 7-8 September in front of the world’s most famous bullfighting ring.

The tournament was dominated by the Eastern European teams, who all regularly lock horns at their many 3x3 tournaments and circuits.

Winners a week previously in Istanbul, Vilnius faced Croatians Split in for the first of Madrid’s two tickets for Miami.

The Lithuanians’ twelve game unbeaten run in the World Tour came to an end thanks to a combination of excellent streetball play from Split and – as is so important in 3x3 – a twist in fortunes, as the final scoreboard displayed a convincing 18-10.

The other semi was a closer contest, with Slovenians Ljubljana – edging past the valiant Czechs of Prague in a tense and low scoring encounter, thanks in large part to the wizardry of Simon Finzgdar.

Ljubljana’s delight following their 16-12 win was obvious for all to see. The word Miami could almost be lip-read on their lips.

In the Final, Split delivered a near perfect game with excellent shooting, simple but elegant give and go plays that displayed their humble, down to earth team-player philosophy.

When you see short guy Bozidar Vrdoljak grabbing rebounds under the basket and your big man Toni Vitali scoring from beyond the arc, you know that you are watching a team on top of their game.

Nothing Ljubljana did could rock Split’s confidence, nor make much of a dent in the score.

Appropriately it was Vrdoljak who brought up the magic and game winning 21-mark (to Ljubljana’s 10) to set off wild celebrations.

With only wildcard home team Miami to be announced, the field was all but complete.