Olympic Basketball- Spain Thread
Beat pretenders China and Angola- CHECK
Revenge the 2006 World Championship loss to Greece- CHECK
Beat USA's predicted greatest competition- ???
Most experts seem to believe that Spain will be our biggest obstacle on the way to Gold, and why not? They have the second most talented team in this olympics... by far.
Rudy Fernandez-
Jose Calderon
Pau Gasol
Marc Gasol
Jan Carlos Navarro
Jorge Garbajosa
Ricky Rubio
... just to name a few
Every name up there is a former, current, or future NBA player. Here are a few notes on this game from my perspective.
1) Not Your Average European Team- Spain is no Greece... that much is for sure. We will be seeing a very different form of offense that goes outside-in (like the NBA) instead of inside-out. Pau Gasol is there best player and is averaging almost 18 points a game. They WILL be feeding him consistently if they are really trying to beat us.
2) Big Boys- Spain and Germany are the two teams in our bracket that have a number of skilled big men. I predict that Boozer will be needed to throw his weight around a bit...
3) Depth- Spain is really the only other team we will face that doesn't have to worry about a drop-off in quality when the second line comes in. Garbajosa, Calderon, and Navarro have all come off the bench, and Rubio is the backup point most of the time.
4) Lots of Questions- Aito Garcia Reneses is either indecisive or a magician using slight of hand. So far he has not shown any consistency in minutes and starters. In the game against China, he hardly used teen sensation Rubio until the last 5 minutes of the game when the score was tight and they needed to comeback??? Many experts are saying that this is simply his style. He plays mind games and refuses to show his hand until games become critical. A few weeks ago Chris Sheridan at ESPN wondered whether or not Spain would throw the game against America so as not to let them gain an edge in game planning for the knockout round. I am wondering the same thing.
5) Execution and Drop-Off- We have now "redeemed" ourselves temporarily after a great game against Greece, but the real question is, can we keep up the intensity? Spain is the best team in Europe (presumably) because they execute very well on the offensive end. If we slack off and don't get the requisite turnovers, we could be in some trouble. (Ricky Rubio is being heralded as a possible top5 pick in the draft next year, but my guess is that he will crack against our pressure if we bring it).
Previous Results- (3-0)
Spain 81 Greece 66
Spain 85 china 75 (OT)
Spain 72 Germany 59
Add your thoughts please...
Sidenote- Lithuania is quietly looking very impressive on the other side of the brackets.