Spain has faced its rival this Friday in Skopje on six occasions – although in all of them it was still only Macedonia – but only one of the games was official. And unforgettable: the semifinal of the Eurobasket 2011, in Kaunas, that of Juan Carlos Navarro’s 35 points.
The first duel against the Macedonians dates from 1999, with Lolo Sainz on the bench. It was played in Fuenlabrada in preparation for the Eurobasket that year. Like the next five games, the victory went to Spain (74-66), who signed their two biggest differences in the last two games of the record, both in 2015, which they won by +34 and +31.
But if there is a match that stands out above all, it is the one that took place in 2011 in Kaunas, the Eurobasket semifinal, remembered not only for the difficult and meritorious victory of Spain – which went to the final and two days later the gold medal- but also for the scoring display of Juan Carlos Navarro. He spent 36 minutes on the track and finished with 35 points (with a series of 5 of 9 triples), which was more important because the Macedonians, led by Bo McCalebb.
The images of his celebration of one of the triples, already in the final stretch of the match, when he was even more on a roll, are among the most iconic in the recent history of the National Team.
THE SPAIN-MACEDONIA
1999 friendly 74-66 Fuenlabrada
2011 Eurobasket 92-80 Kaunas
2013 friendly 66-61 Santiago de Compostela
2013 friendly 77-55 León
2015 friendly 94-63 Madrid
2015 friendly 88-54 Logroño
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