National team friendlies – friendly – working day 104
The Spanish team began the shoot towards next week’s pre-Olympic tournament in Valencia (July 2-7) with a loss in extra time in the friendly against Italy (84-87). The event served to take note of the mistakes and the work ahead, and to pay tribute to Marc Gasol, one of the pillars of the Spanish team’s golden era. The former center received the heat of WiZink for a gigantic career with the national team: 191 games (eighth in the historical list) and nine medals, including the two world golds in 2006 and 2019, two European golds and the two eternal Olympic silvers. Marc embraced Llull and Rudy, the links of that legendary team with a current group that is moving towards generational renewal while fighting to remain on the podium. For now he must face the duties of qualifying for the Paris Games.
Spain finds itself facing the unknown after being champion of almost everything. This generation has never had to go through the toll of a pre-Olympic, and the challenge fills the road with uncertainties. Playing at home is a double-edged sword, as Scariolo has warned, very attentive to overconfidence and warned by past experiences. The set-up has to be quick, and not even with a week left for the first match in Valencia has the coach been able to have his entire squad available. Lorenzo Brown joined the group this Tuesday after closing his move from Maccabi to Panathinaikos. The result is a team that is still testing those steps of the formation while the pieces are falling into place and waiting for the last discards.
Led by Melli, the Azzurra hit the team’s jaw at the start (1-10). The Spanish team had a hard time warming up, concessive in the backyard and without any free space in the attack. Only three points in seven minutes turned on the alarm light. Scariolo shook the tree several times until he found a formula to wake up. Rudy and Llull extinguished the nerves and the inexhaustible energy of Garuba and Juancho’s doll resurrected the Family (10-14), although still with the handbrake on.
The group of individuals still added more to the selection than the entire team. The pieces varied but there was a lack of fluidity with the ball in practically any of the combinations on the court, waiting for a spark. The arreones agitated the Spanish team, and even allowed them to turn the game around at halftime (33-28), although they did not give them the necessary continuity to command with solvency. Italy came and went on the scoreboard while Spain had some good moments: Willy’s muscle, the clairvoyant Juan Núñez’s top hat, some external whipping from Abrines…
The clash came in the swing at the end (54-50 entering the last quarter). Willy’s offensive ability fed the team with points, but the gaps at the back blurred that income. Italy linked three triples in a row: 70-73 with half a minute left. Then the man with the impossible baskets, Sergio Llull, appeared to hunt down a distant bingo with 9.8 seconds remaining and send the game to overtime. There he returned to Spain to show those seams in defense and certain haste in attack. In the final coin toss, Willy made a mistake and Italy tied the victory. The team has duties left. On Friday they will face the Dominican Republic in Alicante, the last touchstone before a pre-Olympic tournament that they will share with Lebanon, Angola, Poland, Finland and the Bahamas. Only the winner of the tournament will be in Paris.
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