The Spanish men’s basketball team will play a first ‘final’ anticipated in the World Cup that is being played in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines when they face a Canada in an all-or-nothing duel this Sunday (3:30 pm / 1) to a Canada also without a margin.
Spanish and Canadians they started as the favorites in their group of the second phase after going undefeated and leaving good feelings, but they were surprised by Latvia and Brazil this Friday, defeats that open everything for the four teams that do not need much math to know their options for the quarterfinals.
The four are tied with a balance of 3-1, so the winners of Spain-Canada and Latvia-Brazil will be the winners of the ticket to the crossings, something that they will rehearse in advance in a clash with no margin for error and where the current world and European champion will try to recover her hallmarks against a rival who had been launched, especially at an offensive level, until her defeat against the Brazilians.
The team led by Sergio Scariolo was sentenced to a toss-up game after a bad game against the Latvians, especially in a last quarter to forget where they wasted the good income obtained in the third and in which they conceded a partial of 11 -27 that cost him the end of his winning streak in the World Cup.
The attack did not work, with bad shooting percentages, especially from the triple (7/21), and this time the defense was not at their level at the required moment. For this reason, it will be vital for Spain to use that competitive ‘DNA’ that led them to win the world title in 2019 and the continental title last year if they want to continue defending their throne and maintain their chances of qualifying directly for the Olympic Games. without having to resort to an always uncomfortable Pre-Olympic.
The Spanish team has not been among the eight best in a Mundobasket since 1994 and, counting all the last big events, since the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, extra pressure for a group that must know how to manage it, with the guarantee of maturity won last summer during the Eurobasket where he already knew how to survive extreme situations throughout the tournament until he won gold.
For this, in addition to bordering on excellence on a defensive level, the team from Scariolo will need the step forward of players like the Hernangómez brothers, Santi Aldama, very gray against Latvia, or a Juan Núñez, who had little prominence in the last defeat. In addition to tuning the wrist from the outside, it is almost urgent to do it from the free throw line, a real ‘torment’ in this World Cup (63/92, 69 percent accuracy). Sergio Llull is a doubt due to a bruise on his left leg.
Spain already knows what it is going to have in front of it. Canada was a rival in their preparation and the European champion fell in Grenada 80-85 in a very even match that had to be decided after extra time. The North American team showed its candidacy that day, consolidated it by beating France (95-65) and kept it in the first phase until Brazil found the key to stopping its offensive power.
As well as averaging more than 100 points per game, Jordi Fernández’s men stayed at 65, so there you can pass the Spanish optionsthat they should not be obsessed with point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Canadian engine since he is their top scorer (22.3 points), rebounder (7.3) and assistant (4.8).
Minimizing the impact of the Oklahoma City Thunder point guard will be key, not forgetting other key pieces like Kelly Olynik and RJ Barrett, and the ability to control the boards as two of the best teams in the championship face off on the rebound.
