2015 FIBA Asia Championship


The 2015 FIBA Asia Championship was the 28th and last edition of the FIBA Asia Championship in men's basketball in Asia. It was organised by FIBA Asia.
At the FIBA Asia Congress held in Doha, Qatar, the Central Board awarded the hosting rights to China. On 4 December 2014, the Chinese Basketball Association acquired approval from FIBA Asia to hold the men's championship at Changsha, Hunan, with the women's championship to be held at Wuhan, Hubei.
As the winner of the tournament, China qualified for the basketball tournament at the 2016 Summer Olympics, while the Philippines, Iran, and Japan would participate at the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Men, as stated by FIBA and the IOC in qualification quota.
The 2015 edition was the last FIBA Asia Championship, rebranded effective in 2017 as the FIBA Asia Cup and would include teams from FIBA Oceania.

Qualification

According to the FIBA Asia rules, the host nation China and 2014 FIBA Asia Cup champions Iran automatically qualified. East Asia, West Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Persian Gulf each had two berths while Central Asia and South Asia each had one slot allotted. The other four berths were allocated to the zones according to performance in the 2014 FIBA Asia Cup. Therefore, with Chinese Taipei, Philippines, Jordan, and Japan finishing in the top four in that tournament other than Iran and China which were both direct qualifiers, East Asia gained another two berths while the Southeast Asia and West Asia gained an additional slot each.
EventDateLocationVacanciesQualified
Host Nation24 July 2014 Doha1
2014 FIBA Asia Cup11–19 July 2014 Wuhan1
Central Asian Qualifying Round27 April 2015 Astana1
East Asian Basketball ChampionshipCancelled4


Gulf Basketball Championship13–20 October 2014 Dammam2
SABA Championship3–5 July 2015 Bengaluru1
Southeast Asian Basketball Championship27 April–1 May 2015 Singapore3

West Asian Basketball Championship29 May–3 June 2015 Amman3

Venues

was chosen by the Chinese Basketball Association as the venue city of the men's championship. Changsha Social Work College's gymnasium was chosen as the primary stadium, while Central South University of Forestry and Technology's gymnasium was the auxiliary stadium.

Draw

The draw was held at Changsha on 27 June 2015. Two teams that were unknown at the date of the draw, the South Asia qualifier and the last remaining team from East Asia were known a short time after.
The top four teams from 2013 were seeded; all other teams except the host team were drawn. By the time that there were three teams in each group, China chose their group, then the remaining three unseeded teams were drawn.
Included were the teams' FIBA World Rankings on the day the draw was made.
Each team had a roster of twelve players. A team may opt to allocate a roster spot to a naturalized player.

Tournament format

All times were local.

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Second round

Group E

Group F

Classification round

Classification 13th–16th

13th–16th place semifinals

15th place game

13th place game

Classification 9th–12th

9th–12th place semifinals

Eleventh place game

Ninth place game

Final round

Bracket

Quarterfinals

5th–8th place semifinals

Semifinals

Seventh place game

Fifth place game

Third place game

Final

Final rankings

Awards

Player tournament averages

;Points
Pos.NamePPG
1 Sani Sakakini22.4
2 Jamal Abu-Shamala21.5
3 Trey Johnson21.1
4 Amjyot Singh20.9
5 Andray Blatche17.8
6 Jay Youngblood17.4
7 Alex Legion17.3
8 Jayson William16.7
8 Yi Jianlian16.7
10 Makoto Hiejima15.9

;Rebounds
Pos.NameRPG
1 Sani Sakakini12.6
2 Joji Takeuchi11.9
3 Delvin Goh10.4
4 Anton Ponomarev9.4
5 Andray Blatche9.2
5 Quincy Davis9.2
7 Yi Jianlian8.8
8 Jamal Abu-Shamala8.5
9 Amjyot Singh8.3
9 Zaid Abbas8.3

;Assists
Pos.NameAPG
1 Imad Qahwash6.0
2 Vishesh Bhriguvanshi4.8
3 Yang Dong-geun5.7
4 Jerry Johnson4.5
5 Guo Ailun4.0
6 Chen Shih-chieh3.6
6 Wael Arakji3.6
8 Trey Johnson3.3
9 Makoto Hiejima3.2
9 Kim Tae-sul3.2

;Steals
Pos.NameSPG
1 Yang Dong-geun2.4
2 Cho Sung-min2.3
3 Mehdi Kamrani2.0
3 Zaid Abbas2.0
5 Alex Legion1.9
6 Liu Cheng1.8
7 Vishesh Bhriguvanshi1.78
7 Makoto Hiejima1.78
9 Jamal Abu-Shamala1.75
9 Imad Qahwash1.75

;Blocks
Pos.NameBPG
1 Quincy Davis2.2
2 Zhou Qi2
3 Lee Jong-hyun1.9
4 Ali Jamal Zaghab1.4
5 Yi Jianlian1.2
6 Ali Haidar1.13
7 Amjyot Singh1.11
7 Bassel Bawji1.11
7 Andray Blatche1.11
10 Hamed Haddadi1
10 Duncan Reid1
10 Abdulrahman Aljuma'h1
10 Delvin Goh1

;Other statistical leaders
StatNameAvg.
Field goal percentage Quincy Davis65.0%
3-point FG percentage Lu Cheng-ju55.2%
Free throw percentage Jerry Johnson88.5%
Turnovers Amjyot Singh5.3
Fouls Alexandr Zhigulin
Abdulrahman Aljuma'h
Wei Hong Choo		4

Team tournament averages

;Points
Pos.NamePPG
188.4
286.0
385.9
484.1
583.7

;Rebounds
Pos.NameRPG
146.9
246.44
346.38
443.4
543.1

;Assists
Pos.NameAPG
119.7
217.2
315.3
414.8
514.1

;Steals
Pos.NameSPG
111.3
29.7
39.4
48.9
58.4

;Blocks
Pos.NameBPG
14.9
23.6
33.4
43.2
53.1

Tournament game highs

Controversies

Rescheduling of Semifinals

There was suspicion and outrage when the organizers decided to move the schedule of the semifinals game between Philippines and Japan from its original schedule of 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Many fans believe that this move was a way for the Chinese to procure undue advantage come the gold medal match.

Finals Pregame

A few hours before the championship match, Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas President Manuel V. Pangilinan accused the host country of pulling off shenanigans. He twittered that the delay of the tournament electric bus to bring the Philippine squad to the game venue as it was not charged would give them less time to warm up. He claimed the SBP were not allocated tickets by the Local Organizing Committee, so the Philippine squad coaching staff and SBP officials were without tickets hours prior to the game although it was standard practice. He also cited that the Chinese players stayed at a different hotel from the players from the other nations, which violates the FIBA rules. It was also reported that when the Philippine squad finally arrived at the arena, the goal's net where they were shooting was suddenly removed for repair, which gave them even less time to warm up after the delay from the electric bus incident.

Officiating

The officiating of the referees were also held in question by fans and various teams playing against China, especially the games with Jordan, South Korea, Iran and the Philippines.

Behavioural issues

There was wide criticism of the rude behavior of the Chinese fans were shouting threats towards visiting teams, doing the dirty finger and throwing bottles and paper at the opposing team benches. There were incidents in which foreign fans in the venue were heckled and insulted by Chinese fans while the Chinese Police just stood by. One particular moment was when Calvin Abueva irritated Chinese supporters after he accidentally bumped Guo Ailun with his shoulder while returning to the bench following his fifth and final personal foul. There was a report that a Filipino cameraman got involved in a verbal exchange with a Chinese cameraman. Filipino veteran sportswriter Quinito Henson added that a Chinese photographer had to be restrained from scuffling with a Filipino lensman for shielding Abueva from crowd abuse.

Referees

The following referees were selected for the tournament.