Strong defence propels USA into final; to meet Great Britain 4th time

A strong defence propelled USA men to their 12th finals, and third consecutive, at the IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The United States of America displayed an impressive show of defence coupled with their offence to defeat the Netherlands 52-41 in the first men’s semi-finals of the day at the World Trade Centre Halls.

Trailing 6-13 in the first quarter, the USA side rallied in the next quarter only to continue the momentum until the end. Jacob Williams top-scored for USA with 15 points that included two 3-pointers.

“It was a great match. We played them (Netherlands) weeks ago and they are a great team; and we knew they are coming in. But we had faith on our defence; made some adjustments and our defence stepped up when we needed. We are excited about the win. Hopefully looking to change the fortune this year. We got the right group to do it,”

said USA head coach Robert Taylor.

Taylor added that USA had played the Netherlands in a friendly in Edward, Canada recently.

“It has been always a close game against them. It’s a tight year. After the World Championships, we have the Parapan American Games in Santiago. But our team is playing well; and we are excited and hope we can continue the momentum to the rest of the year,”

the coach said adding that the team, which have some new players, have done a good job.

Great Britain enter fifth final

In the evening, Great Britain men showed why they are one of the best teams in the world as they defeated Iran 64-44 to enter their fifth final at a World Championships.

For Great Britain, Gregg Warburton top scored with 22 points while Lee Manning contributed 19.

“There’s always pressure in a semi-final of the World Championships. I think, we have a veteran group and they put themselves well. Though we planned to do a higher percentage in our shots- we shot 23 per cent in the first quarter, that’s the lowest we usually do- but we stuck to our defence. Iran has a very good team and we had them at 44. That’s a testing of our defence and hard work,” said GBR head coach Bill Johnson.

It is the fourth time USA and Great Britain will play each other with six-time world champions USA having an advantage of 2-1.

Netherlands to face China in women’s final

Title favourites Netherlands avenged their men’s counterpart’s loss defeating USA 72-65 in the first women’s semi-finals and entered their second consecutive finals at the IWBF Wheelchair Basketball World Championships here.

The Netherlands, the Paralympic, World and European champions, were led by Mariska Beijer’s double-double (32 points, 19 rebounds). Their top player Bo Kramer contributed too with 21 points.

“We did a good job in the first half as we were leading by 14. But the game is of 40 minutes, after rotation and stuff the gap was reduced. That wasn’t good. We have work to do before the finals,”

said Netherlands head coach Gertjan Van Der Linden.

“We are the favourites. We are focused now on finishing well at these Championships. Every game we must give energy and to play better and better. Other teams are coming up so we must work harder to beat them,”

he added appreciating the support staff in building up a team that had newcomers from their Academy back in the Netherlands.

Bo added:

“There was a lot of pressure in the match. In the first half, we played amazing basketball. Third quarter, it was an even game and they played more aggressive. We didn’t finish the balls as easy as we did in the first half. Four quarter, they played with strong offence. We did a lot of things and didn’t stick to our plans. We know what we can do. We need to focus on our defence.”

China in 1st Worlds final

The Netherlands will take on China who beat Germany in a thrilling second women’s semi-finals and make it to their first ever Worlds final.

Egged on by a vociferous crowd, China, the Paralympic silver medallist, overcame an equally strong German side 49-45 in a nail-biting last match of the day.

Xuemei Zhang’s double-double (18 points, 11 rebounds) spurred China to finish on top overcoming a poor second quarter.

Results

Women’s Semi-finals

USA 65 vs. Netherlands 72

China 49 vs. Germany 45

Men’s Semi-finals

USA 52 vs. Netherlands 41

Iran 44 vs. Great Britain 64