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Team USA blows out Serbia in FIBA World Cup gold medal game

By Net Income
USA Basketball

Mason Plumlee, who won an NCAA title in 2010, now has a gold medal from the FIBA World Cup as well. Plumlee was awarded the gold after Team USA blew out Serbia, 129-92, in Madrid. It was highest point total for any national team in the tournament.

Plumlee, who averaged 2.2 points and 2.0 rebounds in nine games, scored one point and grabbed four rebounds in nearly nine minutes as the USA overcame an early Serbia lead and then steamrolled the Serbs, their biggest lead 40 points.  Kyrie Irving who won the World Cup MVP award led all scorers with 26 points, including a perfect 6-of-6 from deep. For Anthony Davis, it was another personal milestone. After winning both the NCAA title and Olympic gold medal in 2012, now has three of the four big championships, missing only an NBA title. No player has won all four.

Afterwards, the Nets big did a celebratory dance.

In addition to Plumlee, two other Nets staffers joined the celebration. Dr. Riley J. Williams III, the Nets team physician, also served as Team USA's physician and T.J. Zanin, a Nets regional scout (and brother of assistant GM Frank Zanin), was Team USA's advance scout. Plumlee is the second Nets player to win a gold medal in the World Cup, joining Derrick Coleman in 1994.

Individually, Bojan Bogdanovic finished third in World Cup scoring at 21.2 points per game. He also averaged 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists for Croatia.  Jorge Gutierrez, playing for Mexico, averaged 9.2 points to go along with 2.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Andray Blatche had perhaps the best all around states in the competition, finishing with 21.2 points (a fraction better than Bogdanovic) and 13.8, the leading rebounding numbers in the World Cup.

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