The knockout stage of the 2010 FIBA World Championship commenced play on 4 September 2010. The teams that finished fourth or higher at their respective preliminary round groups qualify for the knockout stage; the knockout stage is a modified single-elimination tournament, with a third–place game for the losers of the semifinals. The teams played all of their games at Sinan Erdem Dome, Istanbul, Turkey.
Eliminated teams at the quarterfinals played for fifth to eighth places, the loser of the first round play for seventh place, while the winners play for fifth place.
In order to give each contest more ticket sales, more TV coverage and more media coverage, the Local Organizing Committee proposed the measure to FIBA to extend the eighth-finals (round of 16)'s schedule to last four days instead of the previously done two days as was done in Saitama. FIBA accepted the proposal.
Bracket All times are local (UTC+3). Championship Bracket
Consolation Bracket
Eighth–finals
Serbia vs. Croatia The first eighth-final round match-up pitted two former Yugoslav republics against each other as Group A winner Serbia met Group B fourth-place finisher Croatia, the first meeting for the teams in a major international tournament. Serbia prevailed 73–72 in a back-and-forth battle that neither team led by more than eight points at any point during the game. Milan Mačvan, Serbia's youngest player at age 20, drained a three-pointer to extend Serbia's lead to 64–57 with 4:24 remaining before Croatia began a late comeback to pull within one at 68–67 with 24 seconds left in the game. Aleksandar Rašić hit two free throws to extend the lead to three with 21 seconds left before Croatia's Marko Popović answered with two free throws of his own with 15 seconds left. Marko Tomas then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and dished to Popović, who was fouled with 11 seconds left. Popović made only one of two free throws to tie the game at 70 and set up a dramatic finish.
Serbia freed Rašić with a screen on the ensuing inbounds pass and he made an uncontested layup with nine seconds left. Popović was then fouled with 5.9 seconds left, and hit both free throws to tie the game at 72. Serbia inbounded the ball to Rašić, who drove downcourt and was fouled by Croatia's Davor Kus while attempting an off-balance shot with one second left. Rašić made the first and missed the second free throw to give Serbia a one-point victory. Rašić ended up with 15 points, including eight in the fourth quarter and five in the final 21 seconds. Croatia's Popović led all scorers with 21 points to go along with five rebounds and five assists. The Oklahoma City Thunder's Nenad Krstić scored a team-high 16 points for Serbia.
Spain vs. Greece The second game of the knockout phase was a rematch of the 2006 FIBA World Championship final between Spain and Greece. Like the previous meeting, Spain prevailed, winning 80–72 over the Greeks. The game was tight for three quarters and Greece led by one entering the final quarter before Spain used an 18–6 run to pull away. Spain switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone defense to begin the fourth quarter, and Greece could not take advantage, missing nine of 12 three-pointers in the period. Juan Carlos Navarro scored a game-high 22 points and Ricky Rubio dished out six assists for Spain in the victory. Nikolaos Zisis scored 16 points for Greece in the loss.
With the victory, Spain had eliminated Greece in the knockout stage of each of the previous two FIBA World Championship and Eurobasket tournaments. Spain thus owned a five-game winning streak over the Greeks in major international competitions. This represented a reversal of the previous situation, as Greece had defeated Spain in the four previous major international competitions where the two teams had played against each other (1998 FIBA World Championship, Eurobasket 1995, Eurobasket 1993 and 1990 FIBA World Championship), while the last Greek victory over Spain (until a new victory at the Eurobasket 2013) had been in a friendly in Madrid in September, 2005. Following the loss, Greek basketball icon Dimitris Diamantidis – widely acknowledged as one of the best players in the country's history – announced his retirement from the national team.
Slovenia vs. Australia In the third game of the knockout round, Slovenia cruised over Australia in an 87–58 victory. Australia stumbled out of the gate, falling behind 12–0, and never mounted a challenge against the Group B runner-up Slovenes. By halftime, Australia had nine turnovers while only making six field goals on 22% field goal shooting as Slovenia opened up a 21-point halftime lead. The Aussies were not much better in the second half, finishing 18 of 58 (31 percent) from the field and 2 of 19 from the three-point line. Slovenia, meanwhile, shot 16 of 33 from three-point range, led by Jaka Lakovič's 19 points on 5-of-11 three-point shooting. Goran Dragić added 10 points and 8 assists and all twelve Slovenian players scored as they rolled into the quarterfinal round.
With the victory, Slovenia reached the Quarterfinals in the FIBA World Championship for the first time in their short history, while Australia was knocked out in the Round of 16 for the second consecutive tournament.
Turkey vs. France Host Turkey prevailed in the day's second big blowout, beating France 95–77. Like Slovenia before them, Turkey never trailed in becoming the fourth consecutive higher-seeded team to advance to the quarterfinals. The Turks used a 21–4 run during the second and third quarters to open up a 15-point halftime lead and a 26-point third quarter lead en route to the 18-point victory. A capacity crowd was out in full force for Turkey, spending most of the second half singing in unison. Turkey guard Sinan Güler "got the shivers" from the crowd, and fed off the energy with 17 points and three assists. Hedo Türkoğlu was the star for Turkey, scoring 21 points, including four of seven from three-point range, in only 25 minutes of action. Boris Diaw was France's most consistent player in the loss, leading the team in points (21), rebounds (5), and assists (4).
France was eliminated after losing its third consecutive game, while undefeated hosts Turkey advanced to the quarterfinals for the second straight World championship.
USA vs. Angola The unbeaten US team cruised to the biggest blowout of the tournament so far, beating African champions Angola 121–66. After leading 12–4 early on the US used a 10–0 run to build a 33–13 first quarter lead and never looked back in the rout. Angola made only five of 18 shots in the first quarter in digging themselves the early hole. In three of four quarters the US scored at least thirty points, while outscoring Angola by 27 in the first and 28 in the second half. The US team shot 52.6% from the field, including 47.4% (18/38) from the three-point range. The Americans used their athletic advantages in the rebounding area by outrebounding Angola 48–23 and also recording 28 assists with just five turnovers to show their flawless offensive execution. Angola played the game shorthanded, as the team's leading scorer Olimpio Cipriano sat out with a leg injury. With Cipriano out, Joaquim Gomes scored 21 to lead the Angolan side. All twelve players scored for the United States, and four ended up in double digits. Veteran Chauncey Billups scored a team-high 19 and Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, and Eric Gordon each had 17 points.
Unbeaten United States assured themselves a top eight finish for the 16th consecutive World Championship, while Angola failed to qualify for the quarterfinals for the second straight tournament. Despite the loss, Angola became the first African team to qualify for the knockout stage of back-to-back tournaments.
Russia vs. New Zealand Russia provided the fourth blowout in a row by beating New Zealand 78–56. The "Tall Blacks" jumped out to an early 9–2 lead in the first quarter and ended the first quarter with a two-point advantage. The Russians then played impressive defense to regain a four-point lead at half. When New Zealand's stars Kirk Penney and Mika Vukona were sent to the bench with their fourth fouls midway through the third quarter, Russia blew the game open with a 13–0 run to expand a 38–35 lead to 51–35. The Kiwis were unable to cut the deficit below eight as Russia cruised to a 22-point victory. The Russian defense, despite the absence of injured star forward Viktor Khryapa, held New Zealand to 56 points, well below their pre-knockout stage average of 84.8 points per game. Andrey Vorontsevich had 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Russians and Timofey Mozgov chipped in 16 points of his own while Anton Ponkrashov dished out 7 assists. The Kiwis' leading scorer Kirk Penney again led New Zealand with 21 points despite his limited playing time and Thomas Abercrombie ended his impressive play at the World Championship with 13 points. New Zealand just shot 31.2% (15 of 48) from the field and 5 of 24 from beyond the arc.
Russia became the fifth European team to reach the quarterfinals and the sixth straight higher seeded team to advance. With New Zealand's loss, both Oceania teams were knocked out in the eighth finals for the second consecutive World Championship.
Lithuania vs. China Group D winner Lithuania continued the European dominance at this World Championship by beating China 78–67 to become the sixth European team in the quarterfinals. China got off to a good start and led 16–5 early on and by five points after the first quarter. Lithuania came back to outscore China by eight in the second quarter to take a three-point lead at halftime. In the third quarter, Lithuania locked down the Chinese offense by just allowing eleven points to stretch their lead to 13. China attempted to make it a close game in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead down to six before Lithuania's Linas Kleiza scored ten unanswered points to put the game away. Kleiza was the player of the match for Lithuania, scoring 30 points and also grabbing 9 rebounds. Liu Wei scored 21 points for the Chinese team, while team scoring leader Yi Jianlian scored 11 points and pulled down 12 rebounds.
China failed to reach the quarterfinals for the third straight year, although they were knocked the last Asian team standing for the third consecutive tournament. Lithuania reached the quarterfinal stage for the third time in their history and remains to be one of three unbeaten teams in this tournament together with the USA and Turkey.
Argentina vs. Brazil The last eighth final match featured a South American rivalry between Argentina and Brazil. The game quickly turned into a run and gun spectacle in which no team had a bigger lead than four. The game was tied at 25–25 after the back-and-forth first quarter. Brazil took a narrow 48–46 lead into the halftime break. The third quarter was the lowest scoring quarter, as Argentina made a small comeback to tie the game. The fourth quarter was all about offense again with Leandro Barbosa and Hernán Jasen hitting threes after each other. In the end, Luis Scola made the difference with his stellar performance of 37 points and 9 rebounds. The 37 points tied Kirk Penney's tournament high in points. Marcelo Huertas gave the Brazilian team a lift by scoring 34 points. Barbosa added 20 points of his own, as did Carlos Delfino of Argentina. In the shootout, Argentina shot 57.9% from the field, including 61.1% (11/18) from three-point range, while Brazil shot 53.7% and hit half of their shots from behind the arc (12/24).
With the win, Argentina is assured of finishing in the first eight places for the fourth consecutive time, while one-time powerhouse Brazil failed to medal for the eighth straight World Championship.
Quarter–finals
Serbia vs. Spain