Edmonton get 1st FIBA 3x3 World Tour Masters win in Nanjing

NANJING (China) - Edmonton (CAN) won their first-ever Masters at the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Nanjing Masters on October 12-13, 2019.

The Canadians avenged a final loss on their home soil at the Montreal Masters by winning round 2 against Sakiai Gulbele (LTU) this time around (21-17).

Steve Sir topped all scorers with 7 points in the final, including 3 shots from behind the arc. The Canadian sharpshooter - who holds the all-time record at a World Tour shoot-out contest - was named MVP after scoring a team-high 37 points over the weekend. 

Marijus Uzupis had 7 points in the losing effort for Sakiai Gulbele. Big man Aurelijus Pukelis flirted with a triple 5 (6 points, 5 rebounds and 4 highlights) and was the top scorer in Nanjing.

The 2 finalists - the 6th and 7th seeds respectively - had to pull off some big upsets in Nanjing. Edmonton beat the number 3 team in the world Riga Ghetto (LAT) in the semi-finals while Sakiai Gulbele defeated World Tour standings leader Liman (SRB) at the same stage. Edmonton are feeling themselves at home in Nanjing. Coincidentally, they won the Fountask Nanjing Challenger with the exact same roster on April 20-21 this year.

Both teams have now secured their ticket for the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Final, which will take place in Utsunomiya, Japan on November 2-3, 2019.

Ten teams are now guaranteed to compete in the final based on the World Tour standings: Liman (SRB), Novi Sad (SRB), Riga Ghetto (LAT), NY Harlem (USA), Princeton (USA), Piran (SLO), Edmonton (CAN), Amsterdam (NED), Sakiai Gulbele (LTU) and Zemun (SRB).

Lausanne (SUI) and Vrbas (SRB) are currently ranked 11th and 12th in the standings but neither of them will play in the last Masters of the season, which will be held in Jeddah (KSA) on October 18-19. Six teams can still mathematically come from behind in Saudi Arabia: Jeddah (KSA), Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy (MGL), Utsunomiya (JPN), Balanga Chooks (PHI), Tokyo Dime (JPN) and Lyon (FRA).

In the individual contests, Joel Henry (GBR) also won his first Masters title at the Dunk Contest while Dusan Bulut (Novi Sad, SRB) won the Shoot-out contest.

FINAL STANDINGS
1. Edmonton (CAN)
2. Sakiai Gulbele (LTU)
3. Liman (SRB)
4. Riga Ghetto (LAT)
5. Novi Sad (SRB)
6. NY Harlem (USA)
7. Amsterdam (NED)
8. Utsunomiya (JPN)
9. New York City (USA)
10. Shanghai SSLC (CHN)
11. Chongming YM (CHN)
12. Wujin (CHN)
13. Jinjiang YZJ (CHN)

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Exciting, urban and innovative, 3x3 is inspired by several forms of streetball played worldwide and is considered the world’s number one urban team sport. Steered by FIBA, games see two teams of three players face off on a basketball half-court.

It was played successfully for the first time in international competition at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and since then has benefited from the launch of a yearly city-based FIBA 3x3 World Tour and national-team FIBA 3x3 World & Continental Cups.

On 9 June 2017, 3x3 was added to the Olympic Program, starting from the Tokyo 2020 Games.

Nike is the Founding Partner, Wilson the Global Sponsor and Tissot the Official Timekeeper of FIBA 3x3.

FIBA 3x3 events are played on Enlio floors with Wilson balls, Schelde backstops, and the Magic Sky canopy system.

For further information about 3x3, visit fiba3x3.basketball, FIBA 3x3 accounts on FacebookInstagramSina Weibo, Tencent, TwitterYouku and YouTube or contact 3x3@fiba.com.

Wilson sponsor logo - WT Nanjing 2019
  • Tissot sponsor logo - WT Nanjing 2019