The 2013 FIBA Americas Championship for Men kicked off on Friday with eight teams starting their road to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain next year. The top four teams in the 2013 FIBA Americas will earn a trip to next year's tournament in Spain.
Canada 85 - Jamaica 64
In the curtain-raiser of the 2013 FIBA Americas, Canada showed that they are a legitimate contender in the tournament after scoring a dominating 85-64 victory over Jamaica.
Cory Joseph, who played in the NBA last season with the San Antonio Spurs, provided the spark for the Canadian squad as he almost listed a triple-double with 17 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.
Tristan Thompson also had a double-double debut for Canada with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while Brady Heslip and Levon Kendall finished with 17 and 13 points, respectively, with the latter grabbing eight rebounds.
Argentina 95 - Paraguay 60
Defending champion Argentina sent a strong message to the rest of the field that they are ready to defend their title after scoring a 95-60 rout over the hapless Paraguayan national squad.
Playing without the stars of their country's golden era of basketball, Argentina used a balanced scoring attack with seven players finishing in double figures.
Facundo Campazzo scored 13 points, Nicolas Laprovittola added 12 points, while Juan Gutierrez, Carlos Mata, and Leonardo Mainoldi added 11 points each. Marcos Delia and Salem Safar had 10 points each. Luis Scola, the best player on the squad, only played for 10 minutes, finishing with nine points and five rebounds.
Guillermo Araujo, on the other hand, led Paraguay with 23 points and four rebounds, while Federico Mellone chipped in 12 markers.
Puerto Rico 72 - Brazil 65
Puerto Rico emerged victorious in the battle of the South American powerhouses as they escaped with a hard-earned 72-65 win over Brazil in what could be a potential preview of a crucial matchup later in the tournament.
Renaldo Balkman provided the much-needed lift for Puerto Rico as he racked up 27 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field, while also grabbing eight rebounds and tallying four shot blocks.
Brazil looked poise to grab the win after controlling the tempo of the match in the first three periods. However, Puerto Rico rallied in the final period, led by spitfire guard JJ Barea and Balkman, catching the Brazilian squad by surprise.
Barea finished with 12 points to go along with seven rebounds and four assists, while John Holland also had a productive night with 17 points and nine rebounds.
Mexico 65 - Venezuela 56
In the final game of Day 1 competition, Mexico overcame their home-court disadvantage, defeating 2013 FIBA Americas host country Venezuela, 65-56, in front of the home-town crowd in Caracas.
Gustavo Ayon, who played for the Milwaukee Bucks last NBA season, was the biggest difference-maker as he dominated on both ends of the floor, finishing with 22 points, 18 rebounds, four blocks, and four assists.
Veteran forward Luis Bethelmy posted 10 points and nine rebounds for Venezuela, who are playing in the tournament without their star guard Greivis Vasquez due to an ankle injury.
2013 FIBA Americas Day Two Schedule
The preliminary round of the 2013 FIBA Americas will continue today. Dominican Republic and Uruguay will be making their tournament debut. The Day 2 game schedule is listed below:
- Uruguay vs Jamaica - 11:00 a.m.EST
- Canada vs Puerto Rico - 13:30 a.m. EST
- Dominican Republic vs Argentina - 5:00 p.m. EST
- Paraguay vs Venezuela - 7:30 p.m. EST
2013 FIBA Americas Live Streaming
You can watch all four day two games on ESPN3 with live streaming available on Watch ESPN. Some games will also be broadcasted on NBA TV and ESPN Deportes TV.
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