2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup

Result

The USA's first title since 1994, going 9-0; Kevin Durant was named MVP. It was also the first time either the host, Turkey, or Lithuania had reached the podium.

Games

Tournament context

Turkey hosted the sixteenth World Championship across four cities from August 28 to September 12, 2010, with the knockout rounds staged at Istanbul's Sinan Erdem Dome, marking the tournament's fourth time in Europe. The United States, rebuilding its international program after the disappointments of 2002 and 2004 under a new "USA Basketball" development structure emphasizing continuity and commitment from NBA players, went a perfect 9-0 to reclaim the title it had last held in 1994, though the run was not without its scares — the Americans needed a late push to hold off Brazil 70-68 in group play before finding their form in the knockout rounds, including an 89-74 semifinal win over host-nation opponent Lithuania. Kevin Durant, then 21 years old, was the tournament's dominant individual force, averaging 22.8 points per game while shooting an efficient 46 percent from three-point range, and he set a USA World Championship scoring record with 205 total points across the nine games, capped by a 38-point outburst in the semifinal and 28 points in the 81-64 final win over host Turkey. The Americans led 42-32 at halftime of the final and were never seriously threatened thereafter, closing out the title in front of a partisan Turkish crowd that had hoped to see the host nation complete an unlikely run to gold. Turkey's silver medal was itself a landmark achievement for Turkish basketball, the country's first-ever World Championship podium finish, secured after a dramatic 83-82 semifinal win that sent the host into the final for the first time. Lithuania claimed bronze, beating Serbia 99-88 in the third-place game for its own first-ever World Championship medal, giving the tournament three separate historic breakthroughs on the same podium — the champion USA reclaiming a title it had not held in sixteen years, and both Turkey and Lithuania reaching the podium for the first time in their national basketball histories. The championship represented a deliberate and largely successful reset for American international basketball following the 2002 and 2004 disappointments: rather than assembling a roster of stars on an ad hoc basis shortly before the tournament, as had been the practice for most of the preceding decade, USA Basketball under managing director Jerry Colangelo had begun cultivating a standing player pool with multi-year commitments, and the 2010 title — won, notably, without several of the NBA's very biggest stars, who opted out that summer — validated the new approach as a formula the program would continue to rely on through the following decade of renewed American dominance.

Sources

• Wikipedia — 2010 FIBA World Championship final
• FIBA.basketball — The Best of 2010 World Cup: USA grab first title since 1994, Turkey and Lithuania debut on podium