FIBAWC23 Day #2, Euroleague watch - Luka breaks in, brilliant Willy and Banchero

FIBAWC23 Day #2, our daily recap with a special watch on Euroleague players. Luka Doncic immediately "magic" while Willy and Banchero lead Spain and USA.

After yesterday's start it was Day #2 in the FIBAWC23. No surprises, stars shining and a terrible news for Brazil and Fenerbahçe.

SOUTH SUDAN - PUERTORICO 96-101 OT (gr.B)

Dramatic script fro the first ever South Sudan game in the history of the World Cup.

Leading the way for almost the entire game, even in double digits, the africans were down three with a bunch of seconds to play. Central America team unbelievably conceded an easy three to tie the game with 10 seconds left. After a poor attempt by Waters and a missed tip by Thompson, Romero was fouled at the buzzer and had 2 FT to win the game.

Those two throws from the line entered definitely in the house of horrors of basketball, so it was OT.

In the additional minutes Puertorico dominated and ended the South Sudan dream.

Outstanding losing effort by Carlik Jones: 35+11+6 shooting 12 of 22 from the filed. On the winners' side Ismael Romero, away from those free throws, was the MVP with a 16+12 double double, 6 OR and a significant +16 of plus/minus in such a close game.

No EL players in both rosters.

GEORGIA - CAPE VERDE 85-60 (gr. F)

Predictible easy win for Georgia led by a solid performance from Toko Shengelia, who scored 16 points and grabbed 7 boards.

The Virtus Bologna PF was one of the two EL players on the court. On the opponents' side Walter Tavares couldn't do any better than 6 points and 12 rebounds, shooting 2/7 and turning the ball over 5 times. Obviously the most dominant big man of the whole EL needs a kind of feeding that his teammates couldn't guarantee.

It was an historic Far East afternoon for the georgians, since it marked the first ever win in the competition.

«It means the world to me, it's a dream come true after so many sacrifices» the words by captain Toko.

GREECE - JORDAN 92-71 (gr.C)

Tougher than expected but finally well deserved win for the ellenic team.

Jordan din't give up and after being down 13 at halftime came back reducing the deficit to just 3 points late in the third.

Greece didn't panic and managed to establish a new decisive lead thanks to a 13-4 run. Then it was all about a downhill for Dimitris Itoudis squad.

It was a real team effort with Larentsakis (19, 3/5 in 3s) really brilliant in the toughest part of the game, as it happened so often during the EL seasons.

Positive things by Papapetrou, Lountzis, Walkup and Rogkavopoulos, while Papanikolaou couldn't find the way to score threes (0/6). Quiet game for Papagiannis (8+5).

No EL players in Jordan roster, where Rondae Hollis-Jefferson shined with 24 pts, 9 boards and 3 assists.

SLOVENIA - VENEZUELA 100-85 (gr.F)

What was supposed to be a very quiet night for Slovenia turned into a tough first half that only a usual, immense game by Luka "Magic" could solve for the favourites.

37, 7 and 6 by the Mavs star, shooting 11/18: the kind of hype and excitement he is creating any time he has the ball in his hands is something that belongs only to the greatests of all time.

Venezuela started the game with an unbelievable 12/16 from downtown and was back just 3 down two minutes into the third, when Luka and Tobey decided it was time to close the game. The new Zvezda player had a perfect shooting game: 21 with 6/6 in 2s and 3/3 in 3s, adding 5 boards and 2 assists.

DNPCD for Ziga Samar, the Alba Berlin PG.

No EL players in Venezuela team.

SERBIA v CHINA 105-63 (gr.B)

Too much Serbia for China, as we could easily predict.

Winning every quarter by 11, 10, 9 and 12 points, the guys coached by Pesic showed a very good collective effort with 5 players in double digits and all the roster in the stats sheet.

3 of those 5 players were Marinkovic (14 with 4/6 in 3s), Milutinov (11) and Avramovic (10). As per EL players, 7 with 6 assist by Marko Guduric, 7 as well for Davidovac and 6 by Dobric, unusually inaccurate from the arc (0/4).

China, coached by a serbian legend like Sasha Djordjevic, doesn't line up any EL player.

BRAZIL - REP.IRAN 100-59 (gr.G)

After a very solid and really enjoyable first half closed on a 57-25 advantage, the brazilian night turned into a nightmare when Raul Neto slipped while driving to the basket in a 2v1 fastbreak early in the third.

The injury looked immediately terrible for the Fenerbahçe newcomer and the confirmation arrived just a few hours later: rupture of the patellar tendon. Not only the WC is over for the PG who recently joined EL Bosphorus powerhouse.

Brazil played a very good game and away from the bad injury's news it was Yago dos Santos, the new PG for Zvezda who shined with 14 points and 6 assists to lead the high tempo basketball coached by Gustavo Conti.

Iran simply does not belong to this competition level.

USA - NEW ZEALAND 99-72 (gr.C)

Paolo Banchero MVP in a game where the "Tall Blacks" started up by 10 halfway through the first quarter.

The faded dream of the Italian nazional team, looks solid and perfectly in the system, scoring 21 points in 18'54" shooting a quite perfect 6/8 in 2s and 2/2 in 3s.

USA game was not as dominant as we could expect but the guys coached by Steve Kerr keep on showing a better adaptability compared to what we saw in the last disastrous WC.

New Zealand did all what possible and never gave up. Their game versus Greece couldn't be that foregone.

SPAIN - IVORY COAST 94-64 (gr.G)

Good debut by #lafamilia in the WC.

Up 30-26 with 6'59" to play in the 2nd qtr, after a TO, the spanish team extended the lead to 71-39 with 4'43" in the third, thanks to a 41-13 run.

Then some lazy moments allowed to the rivals to be back at -20 and Coach Scariolo didn't like it so much, calling a resolute TO with 3'20" left in the game. Turnovers, especially the last two by Brizuela and Parra, were the topics during that "conversation". The following 12-2 run that closed the game showed how even an easy game like this should be coached.

Willy Hernangomez started the game in a kind of reminding who is the most significant move in the EL summer... He finished with 22 points, 9/12 from the field and 5 rebounds in just something less than 22 minutes.

Quiet day for Sergi, Rudy and Juancho, good things from Claver, solid shooting game for Abrines, up and downs for Parra and Brizuela.

No EL players in Ivory Coast that couldn't really match the European powerhouse.