COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (August 27, 2023) – Team Miami suffered a narrow defeat to Tel-Aviv in the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA 3x3 Men’s World Tour Debrecen Masters on Sunday in Debrecen, Hungary. The Americans finished the event in fourth place.
Team Miami matched the hot shooting of Tel-Aviv from the start. The score was within a point for the early going as Tel-Aviv (7-13 2PT) and Team Miami (5-8 2PT) combined for 12 2-pointers. A pivotal stretch came after back-to-back 2’s from Tomer Assayag putting Tel-Aviv up 18-14 with 4:32 remaining.
Team Miami did not fade down the stretch with a 6-1 run via a couple Canyon Barry buckets, two Kareem Maddox free throws and a Jimmer Fredette 2-pointer. Now leading 20-19 with 3:23 on the clock, Team Miami’s comeback was nearly complete. Unfortunately, Tel Aviv forced a stop on defense and scored a 2-pointer off an offensive rebound to advance, 21-20.
It was a balanced effort for Team Miami in the quarterfinals against Amsterdam. The squad from the USA trailed early and was doubled up at one point 10-5 at the 6:02 mark of the game. A Barry free throw capped a 9-4 run for Team Miami, which knotted up the game at 14 with 3:18 remaining. Each member of the team scored in the final 2:35 of the game with a Fredette 2-pointer ending the contest 21-18. Dylan Travis and Fredette finished with six points in the game while Maddox scored five and Barry added four.
Team Miami went 2-0 in Pool Play on Saturday.
In their first game of the weekend, Team Miami rode a 13-point performance from Fredette to a 21-19 victory over Raudondvaris. Fredette hit four 2-pointers in the game and scored the last five points of the contest. Pool Play closed with a 21-17 win against Debrecen. Maddox led all scorers with nine points, including the first four scores for the Americans in the game.
Miami has now finished in the top four in five consecutive FIBA 3x3 World Tour appearances. The fourth-place finish is Team Miami’s second-best result in a FIBA 3x3 Men’s World Tour Masters event this season. A week ago, the team took third at the Lausanne Masters.