BEIJING, Sept. 16 -- For Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic, their time to shine at the FIBA Basketball World Cup turned out to be a pity party on their China tour.

Greece, Serbia, and the United States, all featuring promising yet inexperienced players, came up short. It was Argentina and Spain that went head to head for the glory in Beijing's Wukesong Arena on Sunday.

In the end, it was experience in international tournaments, and timely adjustment to playing on a high level winning out over raw talent and promise.

VETERANS SHINE ON ROAD TO FINAL

"Offense wins games, but defense wins championships." This old saying was well demonstrated by Spain, which regained its world title after 13 years.

Buckling down on defense, Spain restrained its opponents to 70 points on average. The only opponents among eight scoring over 80 points was Australia in the semifinals, but two overtimes should be taken into consideration there.

In the final against Argentina that had put up an average of 87.6 points on the score sheet, Spain held their South American opponents to 75 points, highlighted by its defense on star players Luis Scola and Facundo Campazzo.

Despite age-defying performance in earlier matches, the 39-year-old big man Scola was held scoreless for an entire half for the first time in the World Cup, before nailing just eight points in total.

Scola participated in Argentina's last final appearance at the World Cup (formerly known as the World Championships) 17 years ago, before claiming the Olympic Games gold medal in 2004.

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