US men win gold at 3×3 AmeriCup, Jimmer jumper clinches win
MIAMI (AP) — Jimmer Fredette now is aware of what it’s prefer to win a 3×3 gold medal with USA Basketball.
He’s hoping it’s the primary of many.
Fredette’s 2-pointer — that’s what beyond-the-arc pictures are price within the 3-on-3 recreation — with 1:07 remaining was the clinching basket in a 21-18 win over Puerto Rico within the title recreation of the FIBA 3×3 AmeriCup on Sunday evening.
“It’s superb,” Fredette mentioned. “How enjoyable is that, to have the ability to win gold and convey it residence for the U.S. towards some actually good competitors, some actually stout groups. These guys are good. They play nicely. They play arduous. We needed to play towards some actually good basketball groups. It was nice to have the ability to come away with a victory.”
Kareem Maddox led the U.S. with 9 factors within the title recreation. Fredette and Canyon Barry — the MVP of the event after main the People in scoring — every had 5 factors, and Dylan Travis scored two for the U.S.
Miami Hurricanes alum Guillermo Diaz, who briefly performed within the NBA with the Los Angeles Clippers in 2007-08, led Puerto Rico with six factors. In 3×3, baskets are price one level, and pictures from past the arc was price two. It’s a 10-minute recreation, and ends both when time is up or when a group reaches 21, whichever comes first.
The U.S. went 5-0 over the weekend. The People have now gone 2-for-2 profitable gold within the males’s occasion on the 3×3 AmeriCup, after additionally going 5-0 on the way in which to a title within the inaugural occasion final 12 months — with Barry and Maddox a part of that group as nicely.
“We discovered a technique to win,” Fredette mentioned. “That’s what good groups do.”
Fredette has performed for 5 NBA groups, was The Related Press school participant of the 12 months in 2011 as a senior at BYU and performed internationally in Greece and China. He’s giving 3×3 a shot with the 2024 Paris Olympics in thoughts, and acquired fairly the training on Sunday about how completely different the outside recreation is.
Momentary courts had been arrange for the event on a plaza on the area the place the Miami Warmth play their residence video games. There’s a roof over a lot of the plaza, however no partitions — which means wind coming off Biscayne Bay was affecting pictures. And simply earlier than the gold-medal video games for women and men began, storm clouds rolled in.
A quick downpour delayed the beginning of the ladies’s gold medal recreation — Canada topped Brazil for that title — and the lads’s title recreation was delayed for 20 minutes due to extra rain coming in and wind blowing it onto the taking part in floor.
Followers ran for canopy. Tarps were unfurled to cover some of the court. Greater than a dozen staff used mops and towels to try to take in each little bit of dampness and get the sport again underway. And when the sport resumed, moisture might have been the rationale why the outsized scoreboard arrange on the fitting nook of the ground went darkish for a couple of minutes.
“We had slightly of every part,” Fredette mentioned.
And in the long run, he left with gold.
“Shooters shoot,” Fredette mentioned. “That is what I do.”
U.S. WOMEN THIRD
The U.S. girls received the bronze at AmeriCup, falling to eventual champion Canada within the semifinals 17-15 earlier than topping Colombia 17-13 within the third-place recreation.
The People had been 4-1 on the event.
“We acquired lots higher from the primary level of the event to the final level,” U.S. coach Jennifer Rizzotti mentioned. “Getting 3×3 expertise is simply so useful. Having an opportunity to have new gamers out right here taking part in in a national-level event like this is superb for us.”
Nalyssa Smith, Camille Zimmerman, Lexie Hull and Veronica Burton represented the U.S. within the occasion.
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