The fourth day of Basketball Without Borders (BWB) 2024 proved to be a busy one.
The event began with the campers participating in a three-point competition followed by a Q&A with former NBA players Aron Baynes, Brandon Knight and Terry Porter, four-time WNBA champion Cynthia Cooper, and FIBA Players’ Commission member and former Australia Women’s National Team member Jenni Screen.
The session touched on various basketball-themed topics centered around the work ethic and mentality required to become an elite player and teammate.
After the panel, campers proceeded to their warmup and prepared for the playoffs.
The girls semifinals saw the Houston Comets (coached by Cynthia Cooper) defeat the Minnesota Lynx (LA Clippers assistant coach Jay Larranaga), 37-22, to advance to the finals.
In their showdown against the Phoenix Mercury, the Comets came back from an eight-point deficit in the first half to come out on top and edge the Mercury, 25-24, with strong play from Japanese players An Kanazawa and Otoha Goto.
In the boys division, the semifinals witnessed the Portland Trail Blazers (former NBA head coach Terry Porter) overcome the New York Knicks (coached by NBA Global Academy Technical Director Marty Clarke and NBA veteran Brandon Knight), 37-33.
The Trail Blazers continued to build on this momentum in their finals against the Philadelphia 76ers, which saw incredible two-way efforts from Australia’s Alexander Dickeson and Mading Kuany from Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence and the NBA Global Academy respectively to secure the title with the final score of 38-29.
Culminating the 14th edition of BWB Asia, the event hosted the Awards Ceremony, which recognized Alexander Dickeson and An Kanazawa as the recipients of the Kim Bohuny BWB Asia 2024 Camp MVP for the boys and girls division, respectively.
Additionally, FIBA Oceania President and FIBA First Vice President David Reid attended the event and acknowledged Omar Hijazi (Jordan) and Keriana Hippolite (New Zealand) as the boy and girl winner of the Patrick Baumann Sportsmanship Award, respectively.
