Brizuela, Pradilla and Willy Hernangómez lead the substitution of Scariolo’s men, who will play first place in the group against Turkey next Wednesday (13.00).
A much more demanding duel was expected, but it was a formality. Spain dismantled a gray Montenegro for 25 brilliant minutes on both sides of the track and saved in the last ten against what is to come in the short term. With a calm victory from the defense and in which Brizuela (18 points), Willy (14+13) and Pradilla (12 points in 17 minutes) stood out on the attack, Sergio Scariolo’s men are already in the second round and tomorrow (1.30 pm) plays the first position of group A against Turkey. In the first game, they will face one of the qualifiers from the pool of death (Slovenia, Germany, France, Lithuania or Bosnia), so the duel is fundamental for the future of the team for the qualifiers that start on Saturday to go .
From this point on, all matches will be much more demanding than this afternoon’s. Despite the bad experience of the defeat to Belgium (73-83), much more was expected from a Montenegro who was outdone by a rival who played great basketball in the first half and got carried away in the second. The renewed Spain, which had demanded Scariolo to roll up their sleeves in defence, came on the table. He reduced the Balkan team to a minimum, which he did not allow to score more than 17 points in any period.
At halftime, Spain led 52-31. Excellent ball circulation, shot success (67% in field goals, 8 out of 12 in triples) and rebound control (8 in offense) put Scariolo’s men in eighth. Pradilla’s great start (9 points in the first quarter) gave Brizuela continuity (4 out of 7 triples) who went into the locker room with 16 points, while Willy restrained Dubljevic (he took no rebounds in 26 minutes of play) and dominated the zone with 6 points and 10 rebounds. Rudy also played well (and that’s nothing new), with the amount of intangibles he carries, but a hard foul from Radovic sent him off to the bench with a blow to his right knee that he preferred not to risk.
The scoring inspiration gave brilliance to an attack able to reach the right temperature to melt the brief resistance of the team led by Bosko Radovic on the first change. The 31-53 at halftime spoke of an almost resolved battle, which remained in the second half. The difference only narrowed to 52-69, when Spain had already turned on automatic mode and started chaining mistakes and nonsense. Up to 20 turnovers in a white glove game, including 3 by Lorenzo Brown, who played flawlessly despite his right shoulder discomfort, alternating moments of excellent technical quality with unthinkable gifts for a point guard of his talent.
Scariolo allowed himself to dose some of his men and tried to gain the trust of the Hernangómez brothers as team leaders. Willy does it and finished with a double-double, 14 points, 13 rebounds, 7 of which were offensive. Meanwhile, Juancho is still in denial. He started with two triples, but it takes him a world to produce without the ball. Stiff, he looks like another player from the 2019 World Cup, Spain’s last success that seems to have passed for more than five years.
Tomorrow begins the decisive moment in search of the surprise. Without a favorite poster that falls on Turkey per campus. Yesterday they defeated Belgium (63-78) with an exhibition of the young center Alperen Sengun (24 points and 8 rebounds, third game over 20 points) and 16 points of Korkmaz, in the shootout after his eviction and fight against Georgia, and cleared the battle for the first position and for that matter the path of Spain. Scariolo’s have more baggage than Ataman’s, an anarchic team, unpredictable and prone to hits as they showed against Georgia.
Source: La Verdad
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