Bronze Medal Game: Australia-103 Taiwan-87

87

103

With a chip on our shoulders for not being in the championship match, we came out ready to play against Taiwan in the Bronze Medal Game of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup. It was a fast-paced, high-scoring match-up, and a fun one to play in as we earned the third place finish.

Stats from the game here...FIBA: Australia vs. Chinese Taipei

We spend one last day in Kuala Lampur, then its back "home" to the Gold Coast. A big thank you to the city of Ipoh, Tommy our host, and all the other teams in the tournament who we became great friends with off the court.

Warning: time for Willard's deep, emotional, existential thoughts...

With all of the sometimes negative going-ons across the globe that inevitably arise, it is pretty neat how a simple game of hoops can bridge such fantastic intercultural relationships. Now despite trying to bash each others heads in during the game, international basketball tournaments like these act as informal peace conferences. But instead of "Peace Talks" being written on some agenda with a fancy letterhead, where foreign delegates sit around in their suits and ties and attempt to discuss "peace", what thousands witnessed in a remote Southeast Asian city this past week was peace in ACTION. Players exchanging gifts and handshakes, picking each other up off the ground after a physical play, engaging in dunk-offs during warm-ups to the delight of the fans, going out for food after the game, then, thanks to these incredible advances in technology, being able to stay closely connected forever via the likes of Facebook, email, and the web. You don't need to sign the dot anywhere on that.