No medal for Heat’s Spoelstra, as Team USA falls to Canada in World Cup bronze game
Erik Spoelstra’s homecoming at the World Cup in the Philippines ended without a medal Sunday for the Miami Heat coach.
Working as a Team USA assistant to Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr in his ancestral homeland, Spoelstra saw his team of second-tier NBA stars fall for the third time in four games in the competition in Manila, this time 127-118 in overtime to Canada.
That left Canada with the bronze medal on the final day of competition in Manila and Spoelstra and Team USA only with a hope of something more tangible in next summer’s Paris Olympics.
“I feel bad for our guys.” Kerr said, “they really put so much into this for the last six weeks, an amazing group.
“Canada deserved it and congrats.”
For Spoelstra, whose mother was born and raised in the Philippines, it now is a three-week sprint until the Oct. 3 start of Heat training camp. The Heat then open their preseason schedule Oct. 10 against the Charlotte Hornets at Kaseya Center and their regular season Oct. 25 against the visiting Detroit Pistons.
It was the first stint of coaching on the FIBA international level for Spoelstra, who previously helped prepare the 2021 Olympic team for gold at the Tokyo Games by helping to coach in domestic warmup sessions for that event, the last for the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich as Team USA coach.
Team USA did not include any players from the Heat, with Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and Kevin Love having previously won Olympic gold. Adebayo was a member of the Team USA roster in Tokyo and could return for next summer’s Olympics. Love also won World Cup gold in 2010 in Turkey.
Sunday’s loss to a Canada roster that featured former Heat big man Kelly Olynyk came in the wake of Team USA losses to Lithuania and Germany.
Team USA played Sunday in the illness absences of Paolo Banchero, Brandon Ingram and Jaren Jackson Jr..
“It’s hard,” Kerr said. “These teams in FIBA are really good, well coached, they’ve got continuity, and have played together for a long time.”
Houston Rockets forward Dillon Brooks led Canada with 39 points Sunday, supported by 31 from Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous and 23 from New York Knicks forward RJ Barrett.
Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards led Team USA in the loss with 24 points.
“It hurts,” said Team USA’s Mikal Bridges, the Brooklyn Nets forward, who intentionally missed a free throw and then converted a 3-pointer that forced overtime.
Several NBA players who bypassed the trip to the Philippines are expected to return to the USA Basketball fold for the Paris Olympics, although, at 34, the Heat’s Jimmy Butler would appear a longshot for such an appearance.
Heat forward Nikola Jovic played later Sunday with Serbia for the gold medal against Germany.