Move over, Neymar. Brazil’s found a new striker.
Utah Jazz point guard prospect Raul “Raulzinho” Neto scored a game-high 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting Sunday night to lead the basketball Selecao past Argentina, 85-65, at the FIBA World Cup.
The win puts Brazil in the quarterfinals.
Neto, who was acquired by the Jazz after the Atlanta Hawks selected him with the No. 47 pick in 2013, is now averaging 7.8 points per game on a sizzling 22 of 29 from the field in six World Cup contests.
In his two most recent outings, he's missed just 1 of 17 shots, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous players on a roster that also includes guards Leandro Barbosa and Marcelinho Huertas.
In addition to Neto, Jazzmen Rudy Gobert, Dante Exum and Brock Motum have also performed well at the international competition.
Gobert is collecting four points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 14 minutes per game for France, which plays Spain in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
The 7-foot-2 center could play a major role in that contest as the Les Blues attempt to stop Serge Ibaka and the Gasol brothers.
Exum and Motum, who’ve been sporting jerseys with Australia across the chest, are no longer in the tournament due to a 65-64 loss to Turkey in the Round of 16, but both put up solid stats for the Boomers.
The Jazz’s 2014 first-round pick averaged 2.7 points, 2 assists and 1.5 rebounds per outing, while Motum scored 6.5 on 48.5 percent shooting.
Jared Bray is a contributing writer for the Deseret News. He also reports in English and Tagalog (a language he learned while serving a two-year church mission in the Philippines) for Balitang America, a nightly news program of The Filipino Channel.