The Paris Games are hidden behind a hieroglyph. The Spanish men’s team, champion of almost everything, owner of 14 of the 20 medals in its history this century, four times European queen and two times world champion, and twice Olympic silver medallist, suddenly finds itself facing the unknown. This generation of players has never had to cross the barrier of a pre-Olympic tournament to go to the Games, the challenge that awaits them from today in the debut against Lebanon (20.30, Tdp) until Sunday if they reach the final in Valencia if they want to travel to the French capital. Only the winner of the tournament will be in Paris.
After the opening match, Scariolo’s team will face Angola on Wednesday, a rival that has been causing cold sweats since that July morning in 1992 in Badalona, when they surprisingly sent Antonio Díaz-Miguel’s team out of the Barcelona Games. The top two in this mini-group will face the top two from the other part of the draw, which is made up of Finland (without Lauri Markkanen), Bahamas (with the nba Deandre Ayton, Buddy Hield and Eric Gordon) and Poland are in the semi-finals. The path is as uncertain as it is dangerous due to the poor preparation of this championship with the full squad, the express nature of the competition and the lack of margin for error. Spain is playing everything in a very short time without the possibility of failure.
The national team has not missed an Olympics since it missed the Atlanta 96 Games, when there was no play-off option like now, but the pass had to be obtained at the previous European Championship, and it did not have to enroll in a pre-Olympic tournament since 1988, to go to Seoul. “This is something new for me,” confesses the one who has lived and won everything, Rudy Fernández, on the verge of retirement at 39 years old and with the challenge of becoming the only basketball player in history to play six Games. “It depends on our attitude to be in Paris or not. We can win or lose against anyone. We have to improve a lot compared to the preparation matches,” warns the captain after the defeat against Italy (84-87) in Madrid and the victory against the Dominican Republic (84-74) in Alicante in the two friendlies last week.
In that last match, Lorenzo Brown appeared after closing his move from Maccabi to Panathinaikos, the Euroleague champion. The naturalized point guard was, just seven days ago, the last to join the group, a progressive trickle of incorporations that has prevented Scariolo from preparing slowly, to his liking, patiently polishing every detail. That formula is no longer possible. Even so, the coach breathes a sigh of relief at the arrival of the point guard who led Spain to European gold in 2022 and who brings a high dose of talent and experience. “There is a lot of difference with him, for the better. He is the high-level European player that we have and who knows how to find a great balance on the court, emotional, technical, knows how to direct, generate and score, and is correct defensively. He is a reference player not so much vocally but in maintaining control and making good decisions on the court, especially when the ball is burning in the last quarters. That is what we lacked last year in the World Cup, when something more was needed,” the coach analyzed yesterday.
Brown will share the baton with the young Juan Núñez and Alberto Díaz, with Sergio Llull, Darío Brizuela, Rudy and López-Arostegui on the outside, and Juancho Hernangómez, Jaime Pradilla, Santi Aldama, Usman Garuba and Willy Hernangómez on the inside. The injured Abrines and Joel Parra have been the latest to be ruled out, although the former is still with the group recovering from a fibrillar tear and could be included in the squad for the Games if he secures a ticket. Eight teams have already qualified: France, the United States, Germany, Serbia, Canada, Japan, South Sudan and Australia. And another four are looking to qualify in four pre-Olympic tournaments this week, in Valencia, Riga (Latvia), Athens (Greece) and San Juan (Puerto Rico). In Paris, the national team will face a formidable scenario with Australia, Canada and the winner of the pre-Olympic tournament in Athens, where Antetokounmpo’s Greece and Doncic’s Slovenia will compete.
Before that mountain, Spain faces a tournament at home that is a double-edged sword due to the environmental factor and a possible overconfidence in the role of host, traditionally a poisoned gift (only one of the last seven organizers has achieved the objective). Sergio Scariolo, seasoned in a thousand battles, warns: “Everyone has to be involved, willing to accept their role and without any kind of personal agenda, but everyone must work hard for the team. I want the players to isolate themselves from what is happening around them and think about what they have to do on the court. Concentration is an individual issue. The team collects what each one contributes individually.”
This time there is no chance of a slip-up from which to recover, as has been the case with the national team in some of its recent great successes. A small slip-up can cost the team an Olympic Games.
Victor Claver’s retirement
The national team received a visit from Victor Claver, who announced his retirement on Monday at the age of 35. The forward played for Valencia, Khimki, Lokomotiv Kuban and Barcelona, as well as Portland in the NBA. With the national team he played 169 international matches and won seven medals, including three European golds and one world championship. “He has been one of the captains of this team, a reference in European basketball,” praised Rudy. “He was an extraordinary presence on and off the court, an example of commitment, a spirit of sacrifice and understanding the importance of a player in a team, which is not the same for everyone. He has had a much greater impact than what has been given credit for by fans and the media,” added Scariolo.
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