 win their first World Tour of the season, defeating Baskets Bonn Telekom (GER) in a 21 - 20 thriller to win the FIBA 3x3 World Tour Ulaanbaatar 2025 on June 21.){kind=link}
ULAANBAATAR (Mongolia) – Liman (SRB) win their first World Tour of the season, defeating Baskets Bonn Telekom (GER) in a 21 – 20 thriller to win the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Ulaanbaatar 2025 on June 21.
The Serbian side led by Marko Stevanovic were their usual clinical self in Ulaanbaatar, utilising their height and efficient shot-making to go perfect in pool play before feeding off that momentum in the knockout rounds. They handled business against home side Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy in the semis to book their spot in the final.
They would go up against the young German side, Baskets Bonn Telekom, who had now made two consecutive finals appearances. They split the results in pool play, but showed out in the knockout stages with wins over Riffa and Marijampole Mantinga.
The final started off with a bang, a statement poster from Nemanja Zigon opened the contest’s scoring. Both teams kept pace early on, notching buckets to stay neck-and-neck. Denzel Agyeman didn’t take long to earn back favor after the early poster, coming back with one of his own against Liman.
Stevanovic, Popovic and Zigon contributed to the offense but it was Andreja Milutinovic who ran the show, getting buckets at will to keep up with the dominant German side.
While it was a close game right up until the end, Baskets Bonn Telekom maintained a lead with time winding down. However, a tweaked ankle for star man Fabian Giessmann brought concerns for the side. They pushed on as the German trio took a 19 – 15 lead with under two minutes to go. However, free throw woes and foul troubles allowed Liman to come back into it. With scores at 20 – 19 in favor of Baskets Bonn, Milutinovic drained a dagger two, finishing the final with 13 points to seal a 21 – 20 victory for Liman, their first of the season.
While late heroic plaudits go to Milutinovic, it was Stevanovic who was the consistent go-to point for Liman who relied on his offensive and defensive dominance to move forward in the tournament. He finished the two-day event with 36 points, a team-high. He earned MVP recognition for his brilliant display that led to Liman’s success.
In the individual contests, Jonas Foerts won the Wilson Shoot-Out Contest while Joel ‘The Royal Guard’ Henry won the Dunk Contest.
STANDINGS
- Liman (SRB)
- Baskets Bonn Telekom (GER)
- Ulaanbaatar MMC Energy (MGL)
- Marijampole Mantinga (LTU)
- Riffa (BRN)
- Chongming (CHN)
- Carolina (PUR)
- Doha (QAT)
- Hangzhou (CHN)
- Bordeaux (FRA)
- Gargzdai (LTU)
- Zavkhan (MGL)
About FIBA 3×3
Exciting, urban and innovative, 3×3 is inspired by several forms of streetball played worldwide and is considered the world’s number one urban team sport. Steered by FIBA, games see two teams of three players face off on a basketball half-court.
It was played successfully for the first time in international competition at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and since then has benefited from the launch of a yearly professional circuit for men and women (World Tour and Women’s Series respectively) and national-team competitions. 3×3 made its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Wilson is the Global Ball Partner of the FIBA 3×3 World Tour 2024.
FIBA 3×3 events are played on Enlio floors with Wilson balls, Schelde backstops, Bodet shot-clocks, the Magic Sky canopy and the Avant seating system.
For further information about 3×3, visit fiba3x3.basketball, FIBA 3×3 accounts on Douyin, Facebook, Instagram, Sina Weibo, Tencent, TikTok, Twitch, Twitter, Youku and YouTube or contact 3×3@fiba.basketball.
Credit: FIBA Press