If falling short of a gold medal in a tournament they were favored to win was considered a low for the United States, the way they lost the FIBA World Cup bronze-medal game to Canada represents a new low.
It’s one thing to lose to another team full of NBA talent. It happens, nothing to be ashamed of. It’s another thing to lose to that team while allowing a record amount of points to a defensive specialist. And that’s what happened to the U.S., as Dillon Brooks dropped a tournament-high 39 points on their heads.
His output was a Canadian record and the most by anyone in a World Cup medal game, and it came on some un-Dillon Brooks-like efficiency. He made 7-of-8 3-pointers, joining Kevin Durant as the only players to make seven threes in a medal game.
TCL Player of the Game Dillon Brooks set a new points record in a medal game to tow third-place Canada to their first-ever medal
39 PTS | 5 AST | 4 REB | 7 3PM | 42 EFF#FIBAWC x #WinForCanada | #InspireGreatness pic.twitter.com/Og5wWPyHEG
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 (@FIBAWC) September 10, 2023
The U.S. kept it close to the very end, and Mikal Bridges hit an incredible last-second 3-pointer to send the game to overtime. But that awful defense was their ultimate undoing, as they were outscored by nine in the extra period.
Give Dillon Brooks credit. He made the shots. If there was someone the U.S. might have wanted to take those shots going into the game, it might have been Brooks — who only averages 14 points on 41 percent shooting in his NBA career. But at some point, they needed to pay him more attention, and apparently that didn’t happen. Now, he has the second-most points in any World Cup game in the last 18 years next to Dirk Nowitzki’s 47.
Fun Fact: Dirk Nowitzki is the only player in the last 18 years to score more points (47) in a single World Cup game today than Dillon Brooks (39) pic.twitter.com/j4LM7mAYXj
— StatMuse (@statmuse) September 10, 2023
Did I mention SGA added 31 points and RJ Barrett had 23 for Canada? It was just a rough game all around for the U.S., and they’re going home empty-handed because of it.
