1997 Tournament of the Americas

The 1997 Tournament of the Americas, later known as the FIBA Americas Championship and the FIBA AmeriCup, was a basketball championship hosted by Uruguay from 21 to 31, August 1997. The games were played in Montevideo. This FIBA AmeriCup was to earn the four berths allocated to the Americas for the 1998 FIBA World Championship in Athens, Greece. The United States won the tournament, the country's third AmeriCup championship.

1997 Tournament of the Americas
Tournament details
Host countryUruguay
CityMontevideo
Dates21–31 August
Teams10
Venue(s)1 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions United States (3rd title)
Runners-up Puerto Rico
Third place Brazil
Fourth place Argentina
1995
1999

Qualification

edit

Eight teams qualified during the qualification tournaments held in their respective zones in 1997; two teams (USA and Canada) qualified automatically since they are the only members of the North America zone.

The draw split the tournament into two groups:

Format

edit
  • The top four teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals.
  • Results and standings among teams within the same group are carried over.
  • The top four teams at the quarterfinals were granted berths in the 1998 FIBA World Championship. Since the United States were already qualified as Olympic Champions, should they reach one of the top four places in the quarterfinals, the fifth team on the final standings was given the remaining berth.
  • The top four teams then played an extra match to define the first six places in the final standings (1 vs. 2 for first place, 3 vs. 4 for third place and 5 vs. 6 for fifth place).

Squads

edit

Preliminary round

edit
Qualified for the quarterfinals

Group A

edit
Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Tie
  Argentina 4 3 1 317 284 +33 7 1–0
  Brazil 4 3 1 328 297 +31 7 0–1
  Cuba 4 2 2 307 290 +17 6 1–0
  Uruguay 4 2 2 297 308 −11 6 0–1
  Mexico 4 0 4 282 352 −70 4  
21 August
  Argentina 81–73   Cuba
21 August
  Uruguay 81–67   Mexico
Montevideo
22 August
  Argentina 68–65   Brazil
Montevideo
22 August
  Cuba 71–68   Mexico
Montevideo
23 August
  Cuba 88–63   Uruguay
Montevideo
23 August
  Brazil 101–71   Mexico
Montevideo
24 August
  Argentina 99–76   Mexico
Montevideo
24 August
  Brazil 84–83 (OT)   Uruguay
Montevideo
25 August
  Brazil 78–65   Cuba
Montevideo
25 August
  Uruguay 70–69   Argentina
Montevideo

Group B

edit
Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Tie
  Canada 4 3 1 403 362 +41 7 1–1 (0.527)
  United States 4 3 1 368 334 +34 7 1–1 (0.524)
  Venezuela 4 3 1 365 357 +8 7 1–1 (0.506)
  Puerto Rico 4 1 3 330 353 −23 5  
  Dominican Republic 4 0 4 320 380 −60 4  
21 August
  Venezuela 85–75   United States
21 August
  Puerto Rico 88–85   Dominican Republic
Montevideo
22 August
  United States 98–70   Dominican Republic
Montevideo
22 August
  Canada 78–77   Puerto Rico
Montevideo
23 August
  Venezuela 85–80   Dominican Republic
Montevideo
23 August
  United States 102–97   Canada
Montevideo
24 August
  United States 93–82   Puerto Rico
Montevideo
24 August
  Canada 119–98   Venezuela
Montevideo
25 August
  Canada 109–85   Dominican Republic
Montevideo
25 August
  Venezuela 97–83   Puerto Rico
Montevideo

Quarterfinal group

edit
Qualified for the semifinals

The top four teams in both Group A and Group B advanced to the quarterfinal group. Then each team played the four from the other group once to complete a full round robin. Records from the preliminary groups carried over. The top two teams advanced to the first place game and the third and fourth-place teams advanced to the third place game. The fifth-place team (Cuba) and the sixth-place team (Canada) did not continue competing for the Americas Championship, but played a further game against each other, with the winner qualifying for the 1998 FIBA World Championship.

Team Pld W L PF PA PD Pts Tie
  United States 8 7 1 750 673 +77 15  
  Puerto Rico 8 5 3 722 679 +43 13 1−0
  Brazil 8 5 3 680 637 +43 13 0−1
  Argentina 8 4 4 650 626 +24 12 2−1 (0.509)
  Cuba 8 4 4 666 681 −15 12 2−1 (0.494)
  Canada 8 4 4 699 687 +12 12 1−2 (0.504)
  Venezuela 8 4 4 708 716 −8 12 1−2 (0.497)
  Uruguay 8 3 5 602 648 −46 11  
27 August
  United States 100–88   Cuba
27 August
  Puerto Rico 88–83   Argentina
27 August
  Brazil 88–79   Venezuela
27 August
  Canada 63–56   Uruguay
28 August
  Venezuela 87–85   Argentina
28 August
  Cuba 88–75   Canada
Montevideo
28 August
  Puerto Rico 86–81   Brazil
Montevideo
28 August
  United States 98–84   Uruguay
Montevideo
29 August
  Puerto Rico 116–81   Cuba
Montevideo
29 August
  United States 91–78   Argentina
Montevideo
29 August
  Uruguay 84–77   Venezuela
Montevideo
29 August
  Brazil 94–82   Canada
Montevideo
30 August
  Cuba 102–100   Venezuela
Montevideo
30 August
  Argentina 87–76   Canada
Montevideo
30 August
  United States 93–89   Brazil
Montevideo
30 August
  Puerto Rico 102–81   Uruguay
Montevideo

Final round

edit

Fifth place game

edit
31 August
  Canada 92–83   Cuba
Montevideo

Third place game

edit
31 August
  Brazil 76–75   Argentina
Montevideo

First place game

edit
31 August
  United States 95–86   Puerto Rico
Montevideo

Awards

edit
 1997 Tournament of the Americas winners 
 
United States
Third title

Final standings

edit
Qualified for the 1998 FIBA World Championship
Qualified for the 1998 FIBA World Championship (Olympic Champions)
Rank Team Record
    United States 8–1
    Puerto Rico 5–4
    Brazil 6–3
4   Argentina 4–5
5   Canada 5–4
6   Cuba 4–5
7   Venezuela 4–4
8   Uruguay 3–5
9   Dominican Republic 0–4
10   Mexico 0–4
  United States
Rusty LaRue
Corey Beck
Jim Farmer
Jason Sasser
Erik Martin
Adrian Griffin
Reggie Jordan
Kermit Holmes
Evers Burns
Russ Millard
Travis Williams
Michael McDonald
  Puerto Rico
José Ortiz
Eddie Casiano
Orlando Santiago
Erick River
Jerome Mincy
James Carter
Carlos Lanauze
Ramón Rivas
Rolando Hourruitiner
Édgar de León
Luis Allende
Daniel Santiago
  Brazil
Raúl Filho
André Guimarães
Caio de Mello
Carlos Rodrigues do Nascimento
Aristides dos Santos
Demétrius Ferraciú
Alexei Carvalho
Cláudio Gomes
Sandro Varejão
Vanderlei Mazzuchini
Rogério Klafke
Joélcio Joerke
edit