2006 FIBA World Championship Final
# 2006 FIBA World Championship Final

The 2006 FIBA World Championship Final was a basketball game between the men's national teams of Greece and the Spain that took place on September 3, 2006, at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.

It was the first Final appearance for Spain, whose best achievement in the World Cup was the fourth place in 1982. Greece also made its first Final appearance, after finishing fourth in the last two tournaments.

Spain won the Final 47–70, and won its first World Cup title. Also, Spain qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics.

## Route to the final

| Spain | Spain | Round | Greece | Greece |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Opponent | Result | Season | Opponent | Result |
| 1st in Group B (5–0) | 1st in Group B (5–0) | Regular season | 1st in Group C (5–0) | 1st in Group C (5–0) |
| Serbia and Montenegro | 87–75 | Round of 16 | China | 95–64 |
| Lithuania | 89–67 | Quarter-finals | France | 73–56 |
| Argentina | 75–74 | Semi-finals | United States | 101–95 |

## Match details

Spain had to play the Final without their star player, later to be named tournament MVP, Pau Gasol, who suffered partial fracture of his fifth metatarsal in his left foot in the Semi-final against Argentina. Greece just came off a stunning victory against the United States in their Semi-final.

| Greece | Spain |
| - | - |
| Starters: | Starters: | Starters: | Pts | Reb | Ast |
| PG | 13 | Dimitris Diamantidis | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| SG | 7 | Vassilis Spanoulis | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| SF | 15 | Michalis Kakiouzis | 17 | 9 | 1 |
| PF | 9 | Antonis Fotsis | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| C | 14 | Lazaros Papadopoulos | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Reserves: | Reserves: | Reserves: | | | |
| G | 4 | Theodoros Papaloukas | 10 | 5 | 3 |
| C | 5 | Sofoklis Schortsanitis | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 6 | Nikos Zisis | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| SG | 10 | Nikos Chatzivrettas | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| F | 8 | Panagiotis Vasilopoulos | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| F | 11 | Dimos Dikoudis | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| F | 13 | Kostas Tsartsaris | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Head coach: ||||||
| Panagiotis Giannakis ||||||

* 2006 World Champions
* Spain 1st title

| Starters: | Starters: | Starters: | Pts | Reb | Ast |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| PG | 8 | José Calderón | 7 | 1 | 1 |
| SG | 7 | Juan Carlos Navarro | 20 | 4 | 3 |
| SF | 10 | Carlos Jiménez | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| PF | 9 | Felipe Reyes | 10 | 3 | 0 |
| C | 15 | Jorge Garbajosa | 20 | 10 | 4 |
| Reserves: | Reserves: | Reserves: | | | |
| PG | 5 | Rudy Fernández | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| G | 6 | Carlos Cabezas | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| G | 11 | Sergio Rodríguez | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| G | 12 | Berni Rodríguez | 6 | 4 | 3 |
| C | 13 | Marc Gasol | 2 | 7 | 0 |
| F | 14 | Álex Mumbrú | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| C | 4 | Pau Gasol | DNP | DNP | DNP |
| Head coach: ||||||
| Pepu Hernández ||||||

0

| Greece | Statistics | Spain |
| - | - | - |
| 18/55 (32.7%) | 2-pt field goals | 26/61 (42.6%) |
| 5/21 (23.8%) | 3-pt field goals | 12/30 (40%) |
| 6/12 (50%) | Free throws | 6/11 (54.5%) |
| 10 | Offensive rebounds | 14 |
| 22 | Defensive rebounds | 26 |
| 32 | Total rebounds | 40 |
| 9 | Assists | 16 |
| 18 | Turnovers | 17 |
| 4 | Steals | 9 |
| 4 | Blocks | 2 |
| 19 | Fouls | 12 |
