Noah Lyles has last laugh after 'World Champions' debate after USA embarrassment
Athletics star Noah Lyles has had the last laugh over the NBA ‘World Champions’ debate after Team USA was eliminated from the FIBA World Cup.
For the second successive tournament, the mighty United States will not lift the trophy after Germany recorded a shock 113-111 win over Steve Kerr’s men. In a team that featured NBA stars such as Dennis Schröder and Daniel Theis, it was the EuroLeague’s Andreas Obst who led Germany's scoring with 24 points.
Orlando Magic’s Franz Wagner added 22 and Germany's total of 113 is more points than any team ever has managed against a USA Basketball team featuring players from the NBA. America's exit comes after several NBA stars took exception with sprint star Lyles for comments after winning three golds at the recent World Athletics Championships.
Lyles pointed out that the NBA champions cannot be considered "world champions" as they often claim. He was met with skepticism from those within the NBA - only for the United States to now fail to actually become world champions.
"Don’t get me wrong. I love the U.S., at times, but that ain’t the world," Lyles said. He doubled down on his comments after winning the 200m at a Diamond League meeting in Switzerland last Thursday. "
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To be honest, I'm just glad we're having the conversation," he said. "It's been underlying for so long but no one really wanted to talk about it. With everybody actually saying things about it, now you have dialogue.
"Of course, maybe there will be opinions that will change and maybe there won't, but at least we're having the conversation. It's funny, you look at my comments, you'll have people in the U.S. versus the world.
"Everyone in the world is very much on my side and the U.S. is usually leaning towards the opinion of the NBA. But that just goes to show how we view ourselves in the U.S. and I'm just glad we're having the conversation."
Lyles’ comments left several NBA players very angry, such as former MVP Kevin Durant. The Phoenix Suns star posted: "Somebody help this brother," and teammate Devin Booker responded with a facepalm emoji. ESPN pundit Stephen A. Smith blasted Lyles by saying on First Take: "First of all, congratulations to your greatness. Continue to represent this country the way you did, major props to you.
Team USA has once again failed to win the FIBA World Cup (JAM STA ROSA/AFP via Getty Images)“He just came across as flagrantly ignorant. And that needs to be said. The NBA has established itself as a global iconic brand. Arguably the best player in the game today, in a lot of people's eyes, is Nikola Jokic. You have guys from Serbia, Slovenia, the list goes on. Luka Doncic, where's he from? Slovenia. Giannis Antetokounmpo, where's he from? Greece."
But the US, who could previously get away with sending a second-string team to events such as the FIBA World Cup, would humbled at the hands of a German team who will face Serbia in Sunday’s final. Germany registered their first win against the Americans in either the Olympic or World Cup competition in seven attempts and exploited a poor defensive display from their opponents, who allowed the Germans to shoot 58% from the field.
Anthony Edwards scored 23 points for the US, 21 from Austin Reaves, 17 from Mikal Bridges and 15 from Jalen Brunson, but their efforts were in vain. “This team is very worthy of winning a championship,” US coach Kerr said. “And we just didn’t get it done.”
“Terrible,” US guard and captain Brunson said. “Plain and simple,” while Reaves added: “We knew the task at hand, and that was to go win. And we didn’t do that.” Team USA will look to restore some pride when they take on Canada in the bronze medal match on Sunday.
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