Tomorrow, the Saitama Super Arena will be the home of a decisive duel between two of the biggest battleships in Olympic basketball: Spain e United States. While the Italian national team will challenge France at 10:20 Italian time, the Spaniards will tread the parquet from 6:40.
On 3 August there will therefore be 4 fundamental competitions, given that each of them will decide a semifinalist at the Olympic tournament. Although each game has thousands of reasons to be watched, one cannot but admit that the clash between the Spaniards and the Americans is one of the most captivating and long waited.
In fact, the team coached by Sergio Scariolo he believes he has all the credentials to snatch a victory from the coaching team Gregg Popovich and permanently eliminate the United States from the competition.
Spain-United States, Pau Gasol: “We have the opportunity to beat them”
Over the years, or rather decades, the US national basketball team has always boasted excellent results and one string of gold medals. It is no coincidence that the United States has almost always lined up a roster made up of NBA players only, many of these not just supporting players but real stars of the American top league.
Nonetheless, in recent Olympic competitions the gap between the United States and other nationals began thin. Several countries around the world have churned out and still produce NBA-caliber talent, then employed every four years to stand up to the Americans. One of the most practical examples is Nigeria, which at the Tokyo Olympics boasted as many as 8 NBA players and is a growing nation from a basketball point of view.
Even Spain, which since the 1980s has emerged as one of the most feared European formations, has begun to field increasingly competitive players, reaching its maximum form after the 2000s. However, the Spaniards appear to be haunted by a curse that prevents them from defeating the United States: they have come close to it in 1984, then defeated in the final by Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing, a similar dynamic was repeated in 2008, when the “Redeem Team” managed to redeem itself with Kobe Bryant driving.
Also on that occasion the Spain had to settle for silver, then again in 2012 another final against the United States and another defeat. To date, the Spanish national team therefore boasts three silver medals and one bronze (2016), but this could change as early as tomorrow.
Pau Gasol, in his fifth Olympics, could undo his personal record of 0 wins against the United States at 41 years of age. “We must compete on every possession, play with intelligence and limit turnovers”, said the long Catalan. “It is a unique opportunity to beat them and do something that has never been possible at the Olympic level”.
Coach too Scariolo he spent two words about the match: “The respect we have earned over the years will not necessarily work in our favor. They will be eager to face us and will be very concrete ”. Spain will be equally determined, which, to name a few, has both the Gasol brothers, Ricky Rubio, the two Hernangomez brothers, Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Llull and many others.
