Eurobasket - Round-up: Spain finally find their feet
Eurosport - Mon, 14 Sep 23:18:00 2009
LA Lakers All-Star Pau Gasol produced a stand-out performance as world champions Spain finally found their form at EuroBasket.
After a series of mixed results, they improved their chances of reaching the quarter-finals with a 84-70 demolition of Lithuania.
It means Ramunas Butautas's side will now miss out on the last eight for the first time in eight years.
Pau netted 19 points, eight rebounds and three blocks to the delight of Spanish coach Sergio Scariola, whose side next face hosts Poland on Wednesday in a must-win clash.
"Pau was very important defensively for us," said Scariola.
"He made one big step forward in terms of intensity and aggressiveness. The team took advantage of this.
"I think it was an excellent game from our team. One main issue was that we recovered our physical condition and we played the game the way we like to - by running and being aggressive.
"We are just one step closer to where we want to get. It's a very important step, a consistent one."
Poland now must beat the Olympic silver medallists to stand a chance of progression - following a 76-60 loss to injury-ravaged but in-form Slovenia.
NBA stars Beno Udrih and Sasha Vujacic are both absent through injury while captain Matiaz Smodis struggles with his back and star guard Goran Dragic was sidelined with a knee problem.
But coach Jure Zdovc praised his weakened side's spirit, as they booked their last eight place.
"I need to congratulate my players," he said.
"We have struggled with injuries but those players that have gone on the court have given everything they have. We deserved this win."
Elsewhere, Turkey remain unbeaten and also advanced to the quarter-finals with a 69-64 win over Serbia.
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Comment 1 - 4 of 4
Please note that spanish national team NOT only depend on Pauīs fortune , Spain is actual world champ and I strongly remind you Pau didnīt play the final match.
Gasol can't stop the great Turk's Omer (2.20)...Turkish Giants will crush everyone as in history!!!
Bla bla bla. I am so sorry to see that all the Euro-basket news are so spoiled with what Gasol does, what Gasol says, how he saves his team. We are talking about European basketball which is mostly based on team-work with some stars sprinkled. But, putting the stars first in place and forgetting the team performances makes me really sick. This is not NBA. We are watching teams and team-works not individual players. For example Spain lost against Turks, but most of the news pathetically focused on why Gasol and his co-workers (a.k.a. Spanish National Basketball Team) did not perform well and what they think about the remaining games. They did not mention the winner team. I hope there are enough basketball fans over Europe and the rest of the world which do not give credit such marketing-oriented news style. Please don't let the basketball arenas in Europe be a coliseum for marketing.
@eurosport:
Please note that Spanish National team is coached by Scariolo, not Scariola
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