The Spanish team will face this Saturday at 8:30 pm the penultimate obstacle to compete in the Paris Games with the Valencia Pre-Olympic Tournament semifinal against Mikael Jantunen’s Finland, which it must cancel, minimize or isolate. just. to enter Sunday’s finals.
On the other side of the table, the Bahamas are clear favorites against weak Lebanon to access the decisive match to secure the only ticket at stake in this tournament for the French event. The American team will also arrive, with some NBA players and great physical talent, with three extra hours of rest in a clash that will face the second semifinalist just 22 hours after their game.
Spain comes to this event after achieving two solid victories, the first with almost no opposition against Lebanon (59-104) and the second with more effort against Angola, whose physical potential hindered the team by Sergio Scariolo from leaving the scoreboard ( 89 -81).
Scariolo remains a doubt about Juancho Hernangómez who missed Tuesday’s second half against Lebanon or the game against Angola due to discomfort in his left adductor. The coach clarified that in case of risk, he will not play.
Without him, the trio of players the coach will have to try to deactivate Jantunen are Usman Garuba, Jaime Pradilla and Santi Aldama, who he has already used as ‘four’ against the African team and contributed well that attacking performance although he suffered down to a low position,
In the absence of NBA Lauri Markkanen in this pre-Olympic tournament, his compatriot Jantunen has been a great reference for the team led by Lassi Tuovi. At 24 years old, the power forward has been a key part this season for Paris to win the Euro Cup, the second highest competition in continental basketball. In the second and last game of the final he was the second highest scorer on his team with 15 points.
Training at the University of Utah and after playing in Oostende and Trento, this campaign exploded in Paris and also in his national team. Both in the first loss against the Bahamas and in the hard-fought victory against Poland that earned them classification, he was the main scoring reference for his team with twenty points, to which he added eight and five rebounds respectively.
His ability to score from three points is one of the weapons of a team with one of the best virtues in those shots. Spain will also have to keep an eye on two prominent ACB players like Sasu Salin and Alexander Madsen, who finished the season with Andorra and were key to the comeback against Poland.
Along with them, Edon Maxhuni, Olivier Nkamhoua, Miro Little and Jacob Grandison have been references in the first two games. Spain’s first objective is to nullify or reduce Jantunen and if not, to ensure that other players do not join him in offensive inspiration.
For this decisive clash, it is expected that Fonteta, occupying almost three quarters of the available capacity, will show better penetration and could be a decisive factor in case of complications, as requested by the coach this Sunday.
Source: La Verdad
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