Latvia push off Italy’s comeback to play for fifth place

MANILA (Philippines) – Italy had a stronger start to the game, taking advantage of Latvia’s busy schedule, but Andrejs Grazulis decided this one would belong to the Three Stars, winning the game 87-82.

Simone Fontecchio did not play for Italy, while Latvia’s one-two punch of Davis Bertans and Arturs Zagars started the game on the bench and saw limited minutes. Latvia will play for fifth to finish the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023, Italy move into battle for seventh.

Turning point: The two were close at the half, but once coach Luca Banchi inserted Arturs Zagars among the starters to begin the second half, it was clear the intention was there to go on one of those usual Latvian runs.

The plan worked to perfection, Zagars hit back-to-back threes to push Latvia towards a double digit lead, and when Italy tried to make their comeback, Andrejs Grazulis’ soft touch around the rim kept the score on Latvia’s side.

The game saw a 27-point swing. Italy were up by 13 early on, only to witness Latvia take over and open up their biggest advantage of 14 points early in the third quarter.

When the game went into a three-point shooting contest, Italy were able to cut the gap to two points with less than a minute on the game clock. It was Grazulis to the rescue, knocking down the game winning three-pointer from the left 45 with just 24 seconds left to play.

TCL Player of the Game: The 30-year-old forward Andrejs Grazulis has been one of the revelations of the World Cup. He played his best scoring game of the tournament, scoring 28 points on 12-of-13 shooting, surpassing his previous high of 24 points against Brazil.

The 28 points scored against Italy were also Grazulis’ new national team career-high, and the single-game record by any Latvian player in a World Cup game.

Stats don’t lie: Latvia have been shooting lights out since day one of this event. They knocked down 15 three-pointers in 31 tries, making this their fifth game with 12 or more three-pointers made at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023.

No other team has more than three such games.

Bottom line: The Latvian fans are still enjoying their adventure in Manila, and they get to play for fifth spot in two days’ time. Aigars Skele played a great game with 12 points and 9 assists, taking over the point guard duties when Zagars was not on the floor.

Italy were a different team without Fontecchio, but they had a glimpse of the past and the future. Gigi Datome went for a team-high 20 points, but the youngster Gabriele Procida was also impressive with 8 points off the bench, showing he’s ready to take over once Datome retires.

They said: “It was tough today. We wanna finish strong because we deserve to finish strong, also for Gigi (Datome), our captain deserves that we play strong these last two games. For sure, there will be a reaction the day after tomorrow.” – Gabriele Procida, Italy

“I’m so proud because we have two Italian coaches here among the top eight, and just missed the third one, that’s Sergio Scariolo (with Spain). For the Italian basketball, this is a good signal, most of the time I talk about my players, this is the first time that I have to say something from my category. Simone (Fontecchio) was sick, he wanted to play, but the doctor and I decided he was not going to play.” – Gianmarco Pozzecco, Italy head coach

“It was a tough game, second one in two days. We started slow, but we got our game rolling and then the game became a bit easier. We just played our basketball, played fast, that helped us a lot. Just happy with the victory. To be honest, it was just another game for me. I have to go back to my club in Italy, this was a cherry on top to go back there with a win.” – Andrejs Grazulis, Latvia

“A good win despite a very short time we had to recover energy after last night’s game with Germany. It was a matter of going deeper into the values of this squad, a group of guys who proved that despite a very sloppy approach to the game, they really care. They came back, they found the vibes, the rhythm, playing with our usual flow. It was very tight, but this was a good win. We have a possibility to play for the fifth place, that will be very exciting.” – Luca Banchi, Latvia head coach

FIBA