The second day of competition at the World Championships in Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia brought us victorious debuts from the USA and Spain, who comfortably defeated New Zealand and Ivory Coast, respectively.
He also left us the victories of Puerto Rico, Greece, Brazil, Georgia, Slovenia, and Serbia. There were no surprises, although South Sudan came close to defeating the Puerto Rican team.
The United States made a lackluster debut against New Zealand. Victory by 99:72 after a very poor start to the game (4:14 for the rival) and after reaching the break with a meager 45:36 on the scoreboard.
Paolo Banchero led the American triumph with 21 points in 19 minutes, and Brandon Ingram was missing. Bad team image, Steve Kerr.
Meanwhile, Spain easily defeated the Ivory Coast. 94-64 triumph with a tremendous first half by Willy Hernangomez, who plays, you have to remember, with W. Geuer behind him in honor of his mother. At the end of the game, the former NBA player scored 22 points in 22 minutes of play.
He was supported in his attack by a very active man, Usman Garuba, and Juancho Hernangómez. Only the three Spanish players mentioned reached ten points.
Doncic and Jones inspire
Two players in particular stood out on this second day of competition: the NBA’s Luka Doncic and the former NBA’s Carlik Jones.
Doncic led Slovenia’s win over Venezuela (100-85) with 37 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists.
And Carlik Jones, formerly of Louisville and a player who wore shorts sporadically at Dallas, Denver, and Chicago and is currently without a team, played a great game in what could have been the surprise of the day as South Sudan dominated Puerto Rico and finally lost in overtime with a score of 96-101.
Jones had 35 points, 11 assists, and four steals. The base is excellent.
The other four games of the day were solved without surprises. Greece defeated Jordan 71-92, Brazil defeated Iran 59-100, Georgia defeated Cape Verde 85-60, and Serbia defeated China 105-63.
Brazil’s victory was marred by the serious injury to Raul Neto.
