59-104: Spain surges past Lebanon

The choice of Spanish He has done his homework to get the first pre-Olympic victory (59-104) and get, even almost, to semifinals of a tournament that should take Sergio Scariolo’s men to Paris.

This has been consistent throughout the team’s history. First game in a great tournament and a defeat that showed all the team’s shortcomings and somehow Scariolo’s team woke up. But last night the opposite happened at La Fonteta.

Spain flowed first to the rhythm of Lorenzo Brown and later Juan Núñez defeated a Lebanon 59-104 that did not even oppose and that was surpassed by the quality of the team, eager for its ticket to the Games.

But still there are three wins left for it. In fact, the first of them Should be tomorrow against Angola (8:30 pm), although it won’t be as quiet as last night, when Scariolo had time to rotate, for all players to add minutes and also sensations in a match without history.

Only former NBA player Omari Spellman and young forward Youssef Khayat They added some incentive to a game where Lorenzo Brown, Santi Aldama and Usman Garuba are the main characters.

Scariolo said in the pre-Olympic preview that Lorenzo Brown It must be “something more” that they missed out on last year in the 2023 World Cup. The American with a Spanish passport sHe had five points and four assists in his first six minutes and lead the team from the first moment (13-22, m.8).

But when he wasn’t Lorenzo Brown, he was Garuba. The interior took the baton and He led a team in the second quarter that increased the score to 31-51 at halftime.

Lebanon tried to suppress the difference of twenty to a Khayat ended up leaving by twenty points, but Spain are very plugged into all aspects of the game. Scariolo’s men almost doubled a team that had no alternatives and was overwhelmed in the second half, where the victory, sought during the preparation period, appeared.

Aldama scored seventeen points, most of them in the second half, Brown finished with nine assists and Willy, who will have his first level test tomorrow, also excelled in the high post.

And tonight, Angola, with the very young team that will start this pre-Olympic, will trust everyone inside Bruno Fernando. The player of The Atlanta Hawks will serve up Willy to prepare for a possible pairing against center DeAndre Aytonwho yesterday was one of the leaders of the Bahamas, the great alternative to get the ticket to Paris.

Juancho Hernangómez, the only negative note

The youngest of the siblings was on the court for about eight minutes after calling for a change in the second quarter. Juancho, Euroleague champion with Panathinaikos, He came back from the break with his eyes closed and it is not known if he will play against Angola tomorrow.

Data sheets

59.- Lebanon (18+13+13+15): Khalil (-), El Darwich (13), Khayat (20), Haidar (2), Spellman (13) – starting five – Zeinoun (-), Gyokchyan (-), Mezher (-), Mansour (3), Ezzedine (2) and Hadidian (6).

104.- Spain (24+27+27+26): Brown (7), Llull (6), Aldama (17), Garuba (15), W. Hernangómez (8) – starting five – Pradilla (14), Rudy Fernández (9), Brizuela (12), A. Díaz ( 6), J. Hernangómez (2), López-Arostegui (6) and Núñez (2).

Referees: Kozlovskis (LAT), Batista (PUR) and Burns (USA). No eliminations.

Incidents: match equivalent to the first day of group A of the Valencia Pre-Olympic Tournament played at La Fonteta before 4,153 spectators.

The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, the mayor of València, María José Catalá, and the minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría, attended the meeting with the president of the Spanish Federation, Elisa Aguilar, the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco or the president of the acb, Antonio Martín, among others.

So did injured internationals Álex Abrines and Víctor Claver, who this Monday announced his retirement as an active player after eighteen seasons and more than fifteen in the senior team, and former coach Juan Antonio Orenga.