The Cuban basketball team lost to their Argentinian counterpart at the FIBA Americas Olympic Pre-Qualification Tournament in Argentina 2023, losing their chances to advance to the next round.
With Panama not participating in the tournament and both teams starting the game with a loss to the Bahamas, the winner would advance to the semi-finals as runners-up in Group A.
As with their first appearance, the Cubans appeared in court combatively. Despite giving up in the first quarter, the difference of 29:24 indicated a closer game.
However, poor success on shots meant they had 66 points compared to 109 for the locals. The Antillian side lost so badly that they barely scored more in the next three periods than they did in the first period.
The effectiveness of 48% in painting contrasted with the stratospheric 74% of the Albicelestes. The same happened from the perimeter: 23% to 50%.
This also speaks to the Caribbean’s defensive deficits, surpassing 42 rebounds to 26 and six blocks to none on the table.
Organizing point guard Facundo Campazzo, a former Real Madrid and NBA player, led the Argentina team. He sent assists and steered the strings of the game to unbalance actions in his side’s favour.
The hosts didn’t give the Greater Antilles players a truce, allowing them just 32 maps in the last three quarters, the same as in the third period of the game.
Standing out for Cuba was Neysser Coutín, who had 15 points, three rebounds, one assist and three steals for an efficiency of +16.
That performance against an Argentine team without its main characters ended the Santiago del Estero-based pre-qualifier for Cuba, which awards a ticket to FIBA Olympic qualifiers in 2024.
