• Chronicle: Spain falls with a good face against the United States
  • Notes: The conclusions of Spain after losing to the United States

China is a starting point for Ricky Rubio . There he debuted in the official tournament with the Spanish team, playing the Beijing Games when he was not even of age, and there he returns eleven years later, already becoming one of the group's leaders. Veteran before 30. It will be his ninth tournament with the national team and, as he showed again in the friendly against the United States, he arrives better than ever. The base of El Masnou is being the star of the preparation for the World Cup.

Ricky responds to the needs of the selection. The absences of Pau Gasol , the great lighthouse, Mirotic and even Sergio Rodríguez , left Spain short of referents in attack. In his nature he is not looking first at the basket, but in these first four games of the tour he has assumed with decision an unusual weight in him: he is being the top scorer of the selection with 17.5 points per game, the same as Willy Hernangómez . Against the United States were 16, 14 in the first part.

It all adds up. To start, that since an operation in the left ankle separated him from the 2015 Eurobasket, the physical problems have been left behind. He has had some inconvenient, like that muscular injury that cut his NBA playoffs in 2018, but nothing serious. It has been three seasons without losing 70 games and that confidence in his physique moves to the game: the Ricky Rubio who is being seen on this tour looks for the hoop and 'force' situations without avoiding contact. "I've had three summers that I can train without having any injuries and it shows."

With Llull leaving from the bench and Marc Gasol still taking filming, Ricky assumes that new scoring responsibility. He is the one who carries the weight of those first minutes and looks at the basket without a doubt of that doubt that in another time. In Anaheim he also had the motivation to play against Donovan Mitchell, his former partner in Utah, who helped explain one of Ricky's new facets. "We're always going to have love. It's very special to have an uncle who is willing to welcome you and help you in any way he can," said the escort, whom Ricky has helped to adapt in his first two years in the NBA.

Because although he has not yet turned 29, he has already been 14 as a professional and with this one there will be nine tournaments with the national team, the same as Llull (three years older). Ahead, only Rudy Fernández (14) and Marc Gasol (11). The four leaders of this first Spain without gold juniors. If in Beijing Jorge Garbajosa and Carlos Jiménez made him godparents, today Ricky is one of those in charge of transmitting the values ​​of the group to the new ones.

It also weighs an 'accustomed' peace ', because after restless summers it has finally arrived with its future solved. For the first time since he came out in the 2009 draft, Ricky was free to decide where he wanted to play and, although the domino effect that caused the signing of Mirotic by Barça cost him his first option - Indian Pacers - he soon found accommodation: he signed a contract of 51 million dollars (about 46 million euros gross) for three years with the Phoenix Suns. Play also free of that weight.

Everything adds to this Ricky Rubio that is known and feels leader, who assumes an unusual role as a scorer without forgetting that it is also the first line of defense, responsible for setting the tone of that intensity that Sergio Scariolo asks back to compensate for the shortcomings in the melee of that light Spain. Against the United States, in addition to the 16 points and seven assists, they were five steals, like those that in Beijing 2008 made Marc Gasol start calling him 'Tocapelotas'. Eleven years later, the two return to China as leaders of the national team.

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