“About The Team” | Kessler And Team USA Knock Out Fontecchio; Olynyk And Canada Advance To Semifinals

After nearly two weeks of competition, the FIBA World Cup has its final four as Team USA, Canada, Serbia, and Germany are left standing heading into the last weekend. 

The good news for Jazz Nation is that Walker Kessler (USA) and Kelly Olynyk (Canada) are still alive and, following possible victories in their respective semifinals, will meet for the gold medal on Sunday. But first, they must take down their semifinal opponents on Friday morning. 

UNITED STATES 100 | ITALY 63After a surprising defeat at the hands of Lithuania on Monday, Team USA sent a statement to the rest of the world on Wednesday. Unfortunately, Simone Fontecchio and Italy were on the receiving end as the Americans dominated from start to finish. 

Knowing how talented his team was offensively, head coach Steve Kerr emphasized defense, knowing the Americans would only go as far as their defense took them. Whatever was said worked because Team USA was fast, physical, and disciplined, locking in on Italy’s shooters and rarely letting them get an open look. 

The Americans jumped out to a 10-point lead after the first quarter and then held Italy to just 10 points in the second quarter, leading to a 22-point advantage at the break. Most impressively, Team USA never let up in the third quarter, as they caught a rhythm offensively by dropping 37 points. 

With the game all but over heading to the fourth, Kerr emptied his bench. The good news is that the reserves also played well, keeping pace with the Italians and never letting them gain momentum. 

Kessler played the entire final 10 minutes, finishing with four points (2-of-2 shooting), five rebounds, and one block. While Kessler is advancing to the semifinals, Fontecchio and Italy are heading home — although not for lack of trying. Italy’s leading scorer, Fontecchio finished with 18 points, five rebounds, two steals, and two blocks before fouling out.

“The joy and the competitiveness go hand-in-hand,” Kerr said postgame. “When you compete and play with that kind of force and energy, it’s just infectious, and then it becomes fun. It doesn’t matter who scores, who gets the stats, it just becomes about the team, and that’s when the game is at its peak and when it’s fun.”

Kessler and his teammates will now square off with undefeated Germany on Friday morning, with tipoff set for 6:40 a.m. MT and a berth in the finals at stake.

CANADA 100 | Slovenia 89In one of the best quarterfinals matchups in recent memory, NBA stars and All-NBA first-team guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City) and Luka Doncic (Slovenia) went head-to-head in a showdown with a berth in the semifinals at stake. 

As expected, the game was extremely tight until Canada — led by a deep bench — used a massive run early in the third quarter to pull away. Beforehand, the first half was very competitive as there were 18 lead changes and six ties in the opening 20 minutes. 

To avoid having SGA or Doncic go hunting on offense, both teams elected to go small, switching every screen and allowing for a very fast pace. Canada led by two after the first quarter, but Slovenia responded as the game was tied at 50 at the break. 

But the Canadians came out firing to start the third, going on a 19-5 run to start the half. Despite Slovenia trying to fight back, Canada kept the lead as Gilgeous-Alexander and his supporting cast refused to be denied. 

Olynyk was once again the steady veteran presence for Canada, finishing with seven points, five rebounds, and a team-high four assists. He was also a team-high +27 in just 23 minutes.

Canada will have a chance to reach the gold medal for the first time in the World Cup when they take on Serbia. Tipoff is set for 2:45 a.m. MT on Friday morning.