Argentina players celebrate after the 5th-6th place playoff match between Argentina and Spain at the World Basketball Championship,
Argentine basketball national team took the fifth place after beating the Spanish team 86-
The Spanish team had in the beginning a weak defense and difficulties in the attack.
The opposite occurred with the Argentine players who left everything on the court, and they showed good basketball with a partial advantage of 25 goals for, 59-34.
But in the third quarter, in the 11th minute, the Spanish team imposed with little difference, 61 to 60.
The Argentine national team did not lose hope and won 86-81.
For the albicelestes was a double win, as Argentina won against the team that had eliminated them from the World Cup in Japan in 2006 and now Spain had to settle for the sixth place.
Luis Scola made the tiebreaking basket with 1:38 left, and
Carlos Delfino scored 27 points and Scola added 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Argentines, who led 49-32 at halftime and seemed to be cruising to victory before a huge rally by
Marc Gasol's free throw tied it at 80 with 2:11 remaining before Scola put
Gasol made another free throw before Pablo Prigioni hit a clinching 3-pointer to make it 85-81 with 15 seconds to play.
Both teams were among the world's best over the last decade, but played without their biggest stars — Manu Ginobili for
Rudy Fernandez scored 31 points and Marc Gasolhad 16 points and 10 boards for
Technical data:
* 86 – Argentina (23 + 26 + 16 + 21): Scola (22), Prigioni (17), Oberto (10), Delfino (27) and Jasen (3), original team -Cequeira, Quinteros, Leonardo Gutierrez (6) and Mata (1).
* 81 – Spain (16 + 16 + 30 + 19): Rubio (3), Rudy (31), Navarro (2), Garbajosa (3) and Gasol (16)-starting team, “Raul Reyes (6), Vasquez (5 ), Llull (7), San Emeterio (8) and Mumbrú.
Referees: Jose Carrion (PUR), Ilija Belosevic (SRB) and Scott Butler (AUS).
Fran Vazquez and Hernán Jasen were eliminated by five personal fouls.
ISTANBUL (2010 FIBA World Championship) – Stars from Argentina, Lithuania, Serbia, Turkey and the USA have been recognised for their outstanding tournaments with the All Star Five for the 2010 FIBA World Championship announced following Sunday's final between Turkey and the USA.
The All Star Five is made up of Luis Scola at centre, Linas Kleiza and Kevin Durantas forwards, and Hedo Turkoglu and Milos Teodosic in the guard positions.
The five players, each voted best player in his position by a selection of top basketball media representatives, received their awards on-court during the FIBA World Championship medal ceremony.
Additionally, they were each rewarded with a special edition Tissot PRC 200 Autoquartz watch by the Swiss watchmaker and FIBA global partner. The watches, which include a unique case back, were handed to them by Tissot's President Francois Thiebaud.
Scola led the tournament in scoring with an average of 27.1ppg, also pulling in 7.9rpg. Scola scored 30 points or more in five straight games, including 37 points in the Eight-Final against Brazil.
Kleiza helped the Lithuanian team win the bronze medal with 19ppg and 7.1rpg, highlighted by 33 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in the playoff against Serbia.
Durant scored a tournament high 38 points in the Semi Final win over Lithuania, and led the USA to the gold medal with 28 points in the final, and an average of 22.8ppg and 6.1rpg over the tournament.
Turkoglu led the Turkish team on their remarkable run to the silver medal by averaging 12.3ppg, 4.2rpg and 3.4 apg. His best performance came against France in the Eight-Finals where he had 20 points and 4 rebounds.
Teodosic will be remembered for his game winning three-pointer in the Quarter Final win over Spain, but also shone throughout the FIBA World Championship, averaging 11.3ppg and 5.6apg, good for third in the tournament.
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