• Chronicle: Another deed for history: Spain will play the World Cup final
  • Reactions. "This can be an example of life"
  • Opinion: A miracle as you don't remember, by Iñako Díaz-Guerra
  • The rival: Argentina's eternal Scola meets Spain

With all due respect for soccer players, Marcelino's goal and Iniesta's goal, basketball players can now clear up doubts about which of the collective sports practiced in Spain has reached the top of the epic ladder. From the 1984 Olympic Games until the second extraordinary extension against Australia, basketball reigns alone. And as for chills, Beijing's victory probably outweighs all others.

Against a higher and muscular Australian team inside, the task was announced again very hard, particularly because the best and perhaps only Spanish stronghold against the colossal antipodes, Marc Gasol , was the one who apparently had least raised his personal performance to the throughout a championship started with suffering and tangled offensive play, but in which the defensive solidity has allowed a gradual increase in the offensive confidence and performance of the group. And against Australia, Gasol debuted with the usual low presence in attack (4 points in the first half) before exploding to get up to the best and decide the game in the second half and the second extension.

The merit of Gasol is immense: he has played a very long season to win the NBA title and has played the World Cup quite diminished. Well, the missing one got in the car.

It was not a perfect match this time, but they faced two great undefeated teams, and the dreaded Australian rebounding superiority (20 offensive rejections) did a lot of damage and probably prevented Spain from winning in the first extra time. But Spain’s defensive superiority over all rivals made up for that gap: 22 Australian turnovers.

This feat, which allows us to maintain hope before that other team of struggle and spirit such as Argentina, also ratified the other virtue of this private team of many historical figures but that has endowed with a rotation of nine men with enormous performance: generosity and the vision. Between Ricky Rubio , Sergio Llull and Gasol they gave more assists than the entire Australian team. Defense, community: to continue like this.

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  • basketball
  • Basketball World Cup 2019
  • Spanish Basketball Team
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