MAR DEL PLATA (Argentina) – Facundo Campazzo finished the job that his teammates on the bench started. The point guard shone this Thursday at the Islas Malvinas Sports Center in Mar del Plata in the victory 83-72 over Canada, in Window 6 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Americas Qualifiers.
Coach Pablo Prigioni made use of the reserve early, when the North American defense complicated the offense. Leandro Bolmaro, Carlos Delfino, Juan Fernández, Máximo Fjellerup and Tayavek Tayavek little by little made a difference in the score, but when Campazzo re-entered they finished escaping.
The point guard scored a double-double of 13 points and 11 assists. It was not his best night in front of the basket, especially from long distance when he went blank on seven pitches. He just made 4 of 12 shots from the field and all in the first stretch. However, his vision of the game unbalanced the Canadian team.
The Red Star Belgrade player gave scoring passes through the pick and roll from the perimeter, including alley oops, and also set up his teammates by attacking the key. He always found a way to destabilize the defense. Brussino (13 goals) received passes from Campazzo, as well as Marcos Delía (10) and Juan Valuet (9).
Carlos Delfino gave the albiceleste a break with 12 goals in just 18 minutes. The experienced player led the bench and gave fluidity to an attack that suffered from effectiveness once morest the “sticky” Canadian defense, as coach Prigioni described it.
“We started fast and anxious, but then we knew how to control the pace of the game”, admitted Campazzo.
Meanwhile, on the defensive end, they forced nine of the visitors’ 18 turnovers. Campazzo, Delfino and Garino had two steals each. “You have to give credit to Argentina because they pressed the ball very well. We always wanted to make the right pass and that caused us turnovers that ended in dunks or layups”, analyzed the coach of Canada, Nate Bjorkgren.
“There was a bit of anxiety at first. We suffered a bit on the rebound (each team had 39) and that slowed down our offensive rhythm. We always talk that when you can’t score easily you have to defend and run, score in transition (17 counterattack points), and that’s what we did”, Prigioni explained.
Argentina improved its record to 8-3 and this Sunday will seek, at home, to qualify for the World Cup once morest the Dominican Republic.
For the Canadians, Thomas Scrubb was the best scorer with 18 points. He also grabbed six rebounds and had five assists.
Canada will culminate this Sunday the sixth away window once morest Venezuela. The Americans were the first team to secure a ticket to the World Cup.
FIBA