• Statistics.The match numbers

Not because of recurring ceases to be amazing. Even more this afternoon of legend in Beijing , where the team returned where he did not imagine, to the final of a World Cup . He did it after strolling through the epic as he does not remember, desperately surviving the impetus of an Australia that could only succumb after two extensions , an unbearable agony. He arrived with his heart where his legs were not enough and on Sunday he will fight for the second gold of his history , because Saitama is not something already unique.

Few gave a hard for this team that feeds on feats, each more surprising. Before the tournament, but also during the same battle against an Australia that was again at the gates of success. The Aussies will go down in history as another one of those powerful and fearsome teams that were overwhelmed by the extreme competitiveness of some guys who take basketball as if they were living in it. Rendered before a huge Marc Gasol , who commanded every Spanish reaction. For a Ricky who was the permanent leader , for a deadly Llull with his triples and a Rudy who from the silence was absolutely decisive . That is the true DNA, which is neither trained nor learned.

The two extensions were the culmination of a terrible counter-current paddling. And that for the first time in almost the entire World Cup, Spain started without hesitation . Determined, with the road map marked very clear and without any fear of the stage. Surveillance of Patty Mills and impudence. Two Juancho triples in a row were the best test, because in front there was a Miura and they knew it. Australia showed it enduring in the play without major shocks, scoring too easy at times, responding to the tactical variants that Scariolo was already beginning to insert.

After the triple of Llull on the horn of the first quarter, the coach raised an area to react to the first aussie arreón (24-32) and five minutes in a row of offensive traffic jam, with a second unit that this time did not carbonate . In that critical impás Juancho's third fault was joined, although the area, with Marc on the right side and Claver in the center, provided a little relief. Also that quintet of guarantees that ends the games, with which Spain flies and carbure. The bad news was that Mills had begun to sing and that the triples had stopped entering: the team missed the eight attempts in the second act.

Despite another small respite with Marc's first points in play (including a triple, he had missed the last 10 in a row in the tournament), Australia returned to the charge . More launched than ever, convinced of what I was getting. With Mills playing on the edge and nerves, fatigue and despair sprouting in Spain like weeds in the garden. The maximum came with an auto basket by Marc (39-50). He needed the selection to free himself from the ropes to which the rival cornered him, a revulsive, a cape to grab to escape the drowning. He succeeded at least to lift his face.

The intelligence of Ricky (four robberies already collected ...) and, above all, a triple of Llull that was a cry of rage, were a liberation at a time of maximum burden that, most importantly, cut the rush of the boomers . It was to arrive with a life that seemed to be extinguished to the final episode (51-55).

But the afternoon was still uphill in the Wukesong. Without Marc on the track, with a Willy completely surpassed by the occasion, with the rage of Dellavedova and English, what two warriors, who matched the Spanish momentum, Australia struck again and stretched the rope. To the limit.

Spain has seven lives and a thousand lessons in memory. And an unequaled self-esteem. Any other would have been carried away with a biting opponent and a marker that was a slab that became insurmountable every time Lemanis swung another offensive rebound. Marc threw the team on his back , scored seven consecutive points plus an assist for a triple Ribas who signed a performance worthy of praise. That approach was key, because he left the battle ready for a heart attack end . He survived again after three free throws by Mills, before everything went crazy, with nerves full of skin, blessed basketball.

All failed in that abyss, but Rudy forced a loss to Mills , who already monopolized everything, which was gold. Two fouls marked the fate of a match that was going to go on extra time because a sigh prevented Ricky's triple from the center of the field from entering. Marc was right first (Spain did not get ahead from the first quarter), Mills then failed one of his own. Hearts didn't fit in the chest anymore.

The extension turned out to be one of those boxing matches in which the two exhausted fighters throw blows into the air. Touching effort of both, worthy finalist that luck be with him. Arbitral decisions to the limit. And failures and more failures, with the score stopped in a draw at 78 until Mills was right with two free in the absence of 14 seconds. Scariolo's subsequent blackboard play ended Marc at 4.70, which was not going to miss, what a temper. Dellavedova, well defended by Ribas, failed the last to raise the temperature more and conduct what was already a historical battle until the second overtime. Spain saved match points as if it were Rafa Nadal himself.

The main hardships of Spain came from the rebound , overwhelming Australian rule, especially damaging the offensive, like razors to the good defenses of Spain. But nothing mattered, it was now a matter of heroes. In the second extension, the winning mentality of the national team shone like never before, which was unleashed with two Llull triples (90-82 in the absence of 2:06), the second after finishing off what was the best play of the whole game. It was ecstasy . Spain, now yes, saw himself in the final, although he could hardly walk anymore. He had completed one of the most memorable feats in his history .

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