2014 FIBA World Cup results: Pau Gasol pours it on against Iran

The first day of the 2014 FIBA World Cup featured a number of close calls, but no major upsets. Team USA and Spain, as expected, cruised by their overmatched opponents. Elsewhere, Brazil and France went down to the wire and Croatia and Turkey narrowly avoided upsets.

Team USA 114, Finland 55: This one was a laugher. Team USA held Finland without a field goal for the entire second quarter and was never seriously challenged. Full recap.

Spain 90, Iran 60: You think Pau Gasol is happy to be out of L.A.? The new Chicago Bull was dominant against an overmatched Iran frontcourt, scoring 33 points in Spain’s easy victory. Spain wasn’t quite as impressive as Team USA, but had to play without Serge Ibaka, who sat out with a hamstring injury.

Brazil 65, France 63: Spain’s top two challengers in Group A played a disjointed game that wasn’t illustrative of either club’s talent. Ultimately, Brazil persevered thanks to the electrifying Marcelo Huertas, who scored 11 of his 18 points in the final quarter. France hung around and actually cut Brazil’s lead to one point in the closing seconds, but a final Boris Diaw heave was blocked at the buzzer.

Croatia 81, Philippines 78: The game of the day was the very first one. Led by a torrid Andray Blatche, the Philippines battled back from an early deficit and forced overtime thanks to a jumper by Jason William Castro. But in the end, Croatia hung on thanks to Nets wing Bojan Bogdanovic, who poured in 26 points and was the only Croatia player to play consistently from start to finish.

Slovenia 90, Australia 80: What was supposed to be an even backcourt battle was anything but. Goran Dragic was tremendous for Slovenia with 21 points, while Dante Exum went scoreless in 11 minutes for Australia and backcourt mate Matthew Dellavedova wasn’t much better with only three points.

Turkey 76, New Zealand 73: Even without Steven Adams, the Kiwis controlled the game for most of the way, but Turkey made a late push and took the lead for good on an Emir Prelzdic three with just over three minutes to go. New Zealand had one final chance, but a pass to Kirk Penney was poorly timed, leading to a wild three attempt that missed.

Ukraine 72, Dominican Republic 62: Mike Fratello’s club broke open a tight game early in the third quarter with a barrage of threes and held on after the Dominican Republic made a push in the fourth quarter. Former Detroit Pistons big man Slava Kravtsov hit all four of his shots and was a major presence in the paint.

Argentina 98, Puerto Rico 75: Argentina broke open a seven-point game at halftime with a 24-11 third quarter and cruised to victory. J.J. Barea had 24 for Puerto Rico, but he had no help.

Lithuania 87, Mexico 74: The cinderella FIBA Americas champions were up five after the first quarter, but Lithuania slowly took control back in the second and broke the game open in the third. Highly-touted Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas was dominant, hitting all eight of his field goals and clogging the lane defensively.

Serbia 85, Egypt 64: Egypt hung around early, but Serbia’s superior talent eventually broke this game open. Twelve different players got on the score sheet for Serbia.

Greece 87, Senegal 64: This one was pretty much over when Greece raced to a 13-3 lead in the first quarter. Senegal got it back to 15-9, but Greece dominated the second quarter and took a 45-17 lead into halftime. Giannis Antetokounmpo had only 11 points, but these were two of them.

Angola 80, Korea 69: The upstart Koreans were in this game for three quarters, but Angola surged ahead early in the fourth and were never seriously threatened thereafter.