International 3x3 Tournaments!

[Hepcat]

So the Winline Moscow Open 3x3 Tournament took place over the June 4th-June 5th weekend. The tournament included what appeared to be a strong lineup of teams including these:

Novi Sad (Serbia)
Ub (Serbia)
Riga (Latvia)
Jelgava (Latvia)
Princeton (U.S.A.)
Šakių Gulbelė (Lithuania)
Kauno Tauras (Lithuania)
Tri Zvezdochki (Russia)
Inanomo (Russia)
Lausanne Sport (Switzerland)
Team Estonia

Unfortunately most of the strongest clubs - e.g. Riga, Novi Sad, Princeton - were missing some/many of their best players:

Teams - Moscow Open

Russia South defeated Šakių Gulbelė 18-16 in the Final:

Game Scores - Moscow Open

The Tauras team from Kaunas got the Bronze:

Final Standings - Moscow Open

[Hepcat]

Here's the video of Day 2 of the Tournament:

The semis and final are of course near the very end of the video.

[JGX]

Not technically "international", but USA 3x3 Nationals were this weekend and there was a changing of the guard as 3Ball Omaha beat Harlem 21-20 in the championship game. Omaha had also eliminated Princeton in the quarterfinals. Wonder if this gets them the opportunity to play in FIBA World Tour events. Tournament MVP was Omaha's Trey Bardsley, who plays for the Washington Generals(!!!), and the winners also featured 43-year old Steffon Bradford, who spent most of his pro career in the French second and third divisions.

An experienced Force 10 team rebounded from an opening-game loss to win the women's tournament, mostly against teams of current college players. 2014 3x3 World Championship gold medalist Cierra Burdick was named MVP.

Playoff rounds with annoying announcer and bad camera angle: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1054907216

[Hepcat]

Not technically "international", but USA 3x3 Nationals were this weekend and there was a changing of the guard as 3Ball Omaha beat Harlem 21-20 in the championship game. Omaha had also eliminated Princeton in the quarterfinals. Wonder if this gets them the opportunity to play in FIBA World Tour events. Tournament MVP was Omaha's Trey Bardsley, who plays for the Washington Generals(!!!), and the winners also featured 43-year old Steffon Bradford, who spent most of his pro career in the French second and third divisions.

I'd hesitate to extrapolate on the basis of one tournament given the unpredictability inherent in a system where playoffs consist in sudden death games to 21 points or ten minutes (whichever comes first). In 3x3 it's more than ever the case that "on any given day...."

[Hepcat]

The FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup 2021 will be played on September 10-12th in Paris. Twelve men's and twelve women's teams will participate. These teams have pre-qualified:

Men: France (Hosts), Serbia (2019 Winner), Russia, Slovenia

Women: France (Hosts and 2019 Winner), Russia, Netherlands, Romania


Tel Aviv Tournament

Four men's teams will qualify from a tournament to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 25-26th:

Israel, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Turkey, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Montenegro

I like the chances of Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Croatia in this group.

Constanta Tournament

Another four men's teams will qualify from a tournament to be held in Constanta, Romania on June 26-27th:

Romania, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Sweden, Great Britain, Ireland, Kosovo, Netherlands, Georgia, Cyprus

I like the chances of Romania, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania and the Netherlands in this one.

[Hepcat]

Here are the results from the June 20th Final of the SAVY Lithuanian 3x3 Championships in the new Hoptrans portable arena which was set up in Klaipėda:

Šakių Gulbelė 22 Klaipėdos Neptūnas 10 (QF)
Kauno Tauras 20 Antwerp 18 (QF)
Telšiai 21 AUCH 20 (QF)
Sūduva-Mantinga 21 Vytauto Didžiojo Universitetas 18 (QF)

Šakių Gulbelė 21 Kauno Tauras 16 (SF)
Sūduva-Mantinga 16 Telšiai 14 (SF)

Šakių Gulbelė 20 Sūduva-Mantinga 19 (F)

Three of the players on the Lithuanian team that didn't quite manage to qualify for the Olympics in Graz in late May - Aurelijus Pukelis, Darius Tarvydas and Šarūnas Vingelis - were part of the Šakių Gulbelė team.

Interesting that Gulbelė had beaten Sūduva-Mantinga 21-11 in the very first game of the round robin but Sūduva stayed in the Final by draining four of the seventeen shots they hoisted from beyond the arc. Gulbelė was three of ten from beyond the arc, one each by Darius Tarvydas, Šarūnas Vingelis and Aurelijus Pukelis. Gulbelė's game plan seemed to consist of feeding Pukelis under the basket where they had a mismatch.

The other player on the Lithuanian team that competed in Graz, Modestas Kumpys, was on the Kauno Tauras team and played quite well from what I saw.

The Antwerp team that lost to Tauras in the QF was comprised of the same four Belgians - Rafael Bogaerts, Nick Celis, Thierry Marien and Thibaut Vervoort - that gave fits to both Lithuania and the United States at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz in late May and then succeeded in qualifying at the Universality Qualifying Tournament the following week.

Interesting as well that a variant of the Antwerp team with Bryan de Valck and Joris Willem Eric Fauconnier replacing Thierry Marien and Thibaut Vervoort also played the previous day in the Elite Tournament for amateur teams but lost to AUCH in the SF. Since the Belgian team is preparing to play in a Qualifying Tournament in Constanta, Romania on June 26-27th for the 3x3 Eurocup, it made all the sense in the world for the Belgians to try to get in as many games as possible for as many of their potential players as possible since they were travelling all the way from Antwerp to Klaipėda to tune-up for the Qualifying Tournament.

[Hepcat]

The Qualifying Tournaments for the FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup 2021 are actually taking place right now in Tel Aviv, Israel and Constanta, Romania.

Team Lietuva will play on Sunday in Constanta and will consist of Šakių Gulbelė players Aurelijus Pukelis, Darius Tarvydas and Šarūnas Vingelis plus Ignas Razutis, a playmaking PG with Telšiai.

Constanta Qualifier Teams

[Hepcat]

The FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup 2021 will be played on September 10-12th in Paris.

Tel Aviv Tournament

Four men's teams will qualify from a tournament to be held in Tel Aviv, Israel on June 25-26th:

Israel, Poland, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Turkey, Portugal, Croatia, Greece, Andorra, Azerbaijan, Montenegro

I like the chances of Poland, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium and Croatia in this group.

Here are the scores of the Qualifying Finals from Tel Aviv:

Austria 21 Germany 13
Belgium 22 Switzerland 11
Poland 21 Croatia 12
Israel 18 Turkey 16

So Austria, Belgium, Poland and Israel all qualify for the Europe Cup in Paris. The only big surprise here is that Israel qualified. Spain was disappointing.

[Hepcat]

The Qualifying Tournaments for the FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup 2021 are actually taking place right now in Tel Aviv, Israel and Constanta, Romania.

Team Lietuva will play on Sunday in Constanta and will consist of Šakių Gulbelė players Aurelijus Pukelis, Darius Tarvydas and Šarūnas Vingelis plus Ignas Razutis, a playmaking PG with Telšiai.

Constanta Qualifier Teams

So I see that Modestas Kumpys has now replaced Ignas Razutis on the Team LT roster for the Qualifiers in Constanta on Sunday. Team LT is therefore the same one that played at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz in late May.

[Hepcat]

The FIBA 3x3 Europe Cup 2021 will be played on September 10-12th in Paris. Twelve men's and twelve women's teams will participate. These teams have pre-qualified:


Constanta Tournament

Another four men's teams will qualify from a tournament to be held in Constanta, Romania on June 26-27th:

Romania, Latvia, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Sweden, Great Britain, Ireland, Kosovo, Netherlands, Georgia, Cyprus

I like the chances of Romania, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania and the Netherlands in this one.

Here are the scores from the Qualifying Finals in Constanta:

Estonia 21 Latvia 15
Netherlands 16 Belarus 13
Ukraine 19 Romania 7
Lithuania 21 Great Britain 11

So Estonia, Netherlands, Ukraine and Lithuania all qualify for the Europe Cup in Paris.

Latvia didn't appear to take this Qualifying Tournament seriously perhaps because Latvia had already qualified for the Olympics. Not a single player from the five man roster of Riga which had made up Latvia's team at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Graz was on the Latvian team in Constanta!

[Hepcat]

Here are the scores from the Women's Qualifying Finals held over the weekend for the 2021 3x3 Europe Cup:

Tel Aviv

Israel 20 Switzerland 18
Germany 16 Portugal 12
Spain 17 Poland 7
Belgium 10 Austria 6

Constanta

Lithuania 18 Sweden 11
Ukraine 21 Ireland 9
Hungary 15 Estonia 12
Great Britain 16 Belarus 14

The eight winning teams of course qualified.

[Hepcat]

Here are the results from the Poitiers (France) Challenger held on July 2-3rd:

Game Scores - Poitiers Challenger

Ub 21 Riga 18 (QF)
Antwerp 12 Amsterdam 11 (QF)
Šakiai 17 Lausanne 13 (QF)
Utena 22 Nantes 17 (QF)

Antwerp 20 Ub 16 (SF)
Utena 15 Šakiai 12 (SF)

Antwerp 20 Utena 18 (F)

Antwerp had lost its first game in the Tournament 18-17 to Šakiai but over the last couple months I've noticed that the Belgians play their best when it's most important, i.e. in playoff games in major competitions. Antwerp sealed their win in the Final by denying Utena a chance for a tying basket with a steal in the last few seconds of the game.

Šakiai took the Bronze.

Final Standings - Poitiers Challenger

[Hepcat]

So the two teams from which the Russian national 3x3 team is drawn, Russia North and Russia South, journeyed to Klaipėda to compete in the spanking new portable Hoptrans arena in the Hoptrans 3x3 Tournament against some top international competition on July 5-6th:

Game Scores - 2021 Hoptrans Stop 1

While their Lithuanian hosts' were celebrating King Mindaugas Day, the two Russian teams were cheeky enough to make off with all the silverware:

Šakiai 21 Utena 12 (QF)
Russia South 21 Kėdainiai 15 (QF)
Russia North 21 Amsterdam 17 (QF)
Raudondvaris* 14 Team Poland 13 (QF)

Russia South 21 Šakiai 13 (SF)
Russia North 21 Raudondvaris* 17 (SF)

Russia South 16 Russia North 15 (F)

* For whatever reason the same Tauras team listed as being from Raudondvaris in international tournaments is listed as being from the broader Kaunas region for tournaments held in Lithuania. To avoid confusion I'll continue to go with the more specific location of Raudondvaris.

The Russian teams are big and used their size to effect under the basket. Their shooting from beyond the arc was also very good. It now appears that Team Russia will be much more of a gold medal contender at the Olympics than I previously thought would be the case.



Stop Two of the Hoptrans Tournament will take place on July 9-10th.

[Hepcat]

Stop 2 of the Hoptrans 3x3 Tournament took place in Klaipėda on July 9-10th:

Teams - Hoptrans Stop 2

The second stop once again included pending Olympic participant Team Poland as well as the Novi Sad team of Serbia but without its two biggest stars. The Russian 3x3 Federation elected to send the third place finisher in its national 3x3 championship, HeliTab, instead of Russia South and Russia North which had cleaned up earlier in the week.

Game Scores - Hoptrans Stop 2

Šakiai Gulbelė 21 Team Poland 14 (QF)
Marijampolė Sūduva 19 LT U23 14 (QF)
Utena 22 Novi Sad 11 (QF)
Vytauto Didžiojo University 21 Kėdainiai 13 (QF)

Šakiai 21 Marijampolė 17 (SF)
Utena 21 VDU 19 (SF)

Šakiai 21 Utena 17 (F)

As explanation for Šakiai's relatively disappointing performance in Stop 1 a few days earlier, Aurelijus Pukelis said that competing in Poitiers on July 2-3rd and then Klaipėda on July 4-5th had left them more than a bit tired.

The Hoptrans Final will take place in Klaipėda on July 31-August 1st.

[Hepcat]

The Cergy-Pontoise 3x3 Tournament took place just northwest of Paris on July 10-11th with a strong lineup of teams:

Teams - Cergy-Pontoise Challenger

Robbie Hummel and Kareem Maddox of Team USA from Graz were part of the Princeton team together with Canyon Berry, the son of NBA legend Rick Barry. After stumbling out of the gate with a 21-17 loss to Tauras of Raudondvaris, Princeton won its remaining games and beat the same Raudondvaris team in the Final:

Game Scores - Cergy-Pontoise Challenger

Princeton 18 NY Harlem 16 (QF)
Lausanne 21 Rennes 11 (QF)
Antwerp 22 Monaco 14 (QF)
Raudondvaris 21 Paris 20 (QF)

Princeton 21 Lausanne 15 (SF)
Raudondvaris 19 Antwerp 16 (SF)

Princeton 21 Raudondvaris 19 (F)

With its victory in the Final, Princeton ended Raudondvaris' six game winning streak from the start of the qualifying round.

Here's a good article on the Tournament:

Princeton Here to Stay - FIBA