2010 - ISTANBUL, ANKARA, KAYSERI, IZMIR, TURKEY

1. USA
2. Turkey
3. Lithuania

The 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey will be remembered for thrilling games and the incredible passion of the home fans. Whether they were playing in Ankara or in the knockout stages in Istanbul's Sinan Erdem Dome, the support for Turkey was non-stop and deafening. The fans made a difference to Turkey who, under veteran coach Bogdan Tanjevic, reached the Final before falling to the United States, 81-64. Team USA captured the world title for the first time since 1994.

There were memorable Preliminary Round clashes in Ankara, Kayseri, Izmir and Istanbul, including opening day. World championship rookies Jordan nearly upset Australia in Kayseri. With Zaid Abbas and Rasheim Wright leading the way, Jordan went in front 74-68 with just 1:23 remaining. The Boomers closed the game with an 8-1 run, though, capped by two David Andersen free-throws with 13 seconds left. They held on for a 76-75 victory. Also on opening day, France surprised Spain, 72-66, and Germany, one of four wild cards in the tournament, very nearly stunned Argentina before falling, 78-74. Argentina, who got 27 points from Carlos Delfino, made four free-throws down the stretch to survive.

Another wild card team, Lithuania, claimed a bronze medal. While their only loss came to the United States in the Semi-Finals, the Baltic side almost slipped up on Day 2 to Canada but won, 70-68. The team from the FIBA Americas had several opportunities to pull even or go ahead in the last minute but couldn't put the ball in the basket. The Canadians endured a tough tournament, losing all five of their games. On Day 2, Germany shocked Serbia, 82-81. In the second overtime, Jan Jagla made one of the shots of the tournament, a fade-away three-ball from the corner just before the end of the 24-second shot-clock to give the Germans an 82-77 lead. Greece also scraped an 83-80 victory over Puerto Rico and Argentina edged Australia 74-72.

There were two other extremely close contests that captivated audiences in the Preliminary Round, with Brazil very nearly beating the United States and Lithuania holding on against Spain. In a spine-tingling encounter at the Abdi Ipekci in Istanbul on Day 3, Mike Krzyzewski's American side beat the Brazilians 70-68. Marcelo Huertas went to the free-throw line with just three seconds remaining and a chance to tie the game but missed the first attempt. The Brazil playmaker intentionally missed the second and chased the ball down in the left corner before passing to Leandro Barbosa in the lane, only for his lay-up to stay out. Lithuania came back from an 18-point, third-quarter deficit to beat defending champions Spain, 76-73, on Day 4 in Izmir.

The last day of the Preliminary Round had three major developments. Serbia defeated Argentina, 84-82, despite Luis Scola's 32 points for the FIBA Americas team. The result gave Dusan Ivkovic's team top spot in Group A ahead of Argentina, Australia, Angola, Germany and Jordan, with the last two failing to advance to the second phase. In Izmir, France had an opportunity to finish as high as second place in Group D but lost to New Zealand, 82-70. Spain, New Zealand and France ended up with 3-2 records and finished second, third and fourth, respectively, on a goal differential tie-breaker. The fourth place forced France to take on the hottest team in the tournament, Turkey, in the first knockout game and the hosts blew them out. In Group C, the basketball gods smiled on China, who managed just a single victory but advanced as the fourth-place team when Puerto Rico's David Huertas hit a three-pointer at the buzzer against Cote d'Ivoire. The Africans won that game, but Huertas' shot reduced their margin of victory to nine at 88-79. With China, Puerto Rico and Cote d'Ivoire all having just a single win and four defeats, China moved into the next round on a goal-differential tie-breaker.

The knockout stages had one riveting clash after another.

Serbia avoided an upset by Croatia, winning 73-72 with Aleksander Rasic's go-ahead free-throw just one second from the end. Spain defeated Greece, 80-72, in a battle of sides that met in the 2006 Final and after the game, Greek playmaker Dimitris Diamantidis announced he was retiring from national team. Slovenia, Turkey, the United States and Russia were decisive winners in their Eighth-Final games with Australia, France, Angola and New Zealand bowing out of the competition. Lithuania's dream run continued with a victory over China while Argentina continued their mastery against Brazil in the big games with a heart-stopping, 93-89 win. Luis Scola had 37 points for the winners while Marcelinho poured in 32 for Brazil and cried as he left the court.

In the last eight, Serbia's Milos Teodosic ended the title defense of Spain with a long three-pointer over the outstretched arms of Jorge Garbajosa at the final buzzer. The shot gave the Blues a 92-89 win. The game proved to be the last for Garbajosa and Alex Mumbru in the Spanish national team shirt, with both retiring before EuroBasket 2011. Russia made life very difficult for the United States but the Americans won their Quarter-Final, 89-79, with Kevin Durant scoring 33 points. Durant was the USA's most reliable weapon on offense from start to finish at the World Championship and would go on to be named as the tournament's most valuable player. Lithuania thrashed Argentina, 104-85, in the other Quarter-Final, gaining partial revenge from their bronze-medal defeat at the 2008 Olympics.

The Americans had to battle but handed Lithuania their first defeat in the competition in the first Semi-Final, 89-74, with Durant hitting five three-balls and scoring a game-high 38 points. The Turkish crowd then roared their team on to an 83-82 win against Serbia. Novica Velickovic looked to have given Serbia the win with a basket just four seconds from the death for an 82-81 lead. After a timeout, Turkey inbounded the ball from half court to Kerem Tunceri and he drove baseline for a lay-up to put the home side back in front with only one second to play. After another timeout, Serbia threw a long alley-oop pass to Velickovic from midcourt but the forward wasn´t able to make the shot.

Serbia carried the hangover from the loss into the bronze-medal game and lost to Lithuania, 99-88, with Linas Kleiza pouring in 33 points for the winners. In somewhat of an anti-climax to a brilliant tournament, the United States blew away Turkey, 81-64. Durant, who had 28 points in the gold-medal triumph, led the all-tournament team also included Turkey's Hedo Turkoglu, Kleiza, Teodosic and Scola.