The Spanish basketball team once again outperformed that of North Macedonia in a game that had no history because it broke at halftime, but in which he achieved the objectives set by the Spanish team’s coach, Sergio Scariolo, to win, entertain the public and give a good level.
In addition, it served as a touchstone for the next, more difficult commitments, against Georgia y Ukraine.
Spain, just as it did in the first match of group G when the road to the world cup 2023, crushed the Cinderella of the group and remains undefeated on its way to qualifying for the World Cup.
The return to competition is always complicated, and more so when the players have been unemployed for more than a month after the end of the competitions, but “the family” had a placid return as a result of the intensity of all its components in a match in which everyone contributed and in which they ended up overwhelming a weak Macedonia.
Also, no one lowered the piston because they are aware that being part of the list that will face the upcoming Eurobasket depends on their performance in these matches.
The defendingone of Scariolo’s non-negotiable values, was key so that, in the second quarter, Spain began to mark distances.
The team was irregular in the first quarter in which they finished ahead but in a tight way due to defensive mismatches that allowed his rival to shoot with some comfort, especially the three-point shots.
The Macedonian team, with 44.44% of effectiveness in triples and 9 points after Hispanic losses, he even went ahead in the electronics on a couple of occasions, although Sergio Scariolo’s team took advantage of their greater strength under the hoops to balance the situation and, with 14 points in the paint, reach the end of the first ten minutes with a tight 19-17.
Las defensive doubts premises disappeared as if by magic in the interval between the first and second quarter. Spain returned to the parquet much more focused and forgetting the problems that had been evidenced back.
Closing the paths to the hoop and with a good activity of the legs, he managed to get Macedonia to do it at night. The visitors were only able to score six points in the second half and Spain scored a 26-6 run that left the score in a resounding 45-23 and the sentenced party when it came to intermission.
The Spanish group did not lower the piston and led by a Sebas Saiz who was the MVP of the game with 19 points (8 of 9 from the field, 9 rebounds and a PIR of 27), he continued without taking his foot off the accelerator to end up liking it, making the public enjoy and maintaining the level until the last second.
Datasheet:
80 – Spain (19+26+17+18): Alberto Díaz (1), López-Aróstegui (-), Joel Parra (3), Pradilla (8), Sáiz (19) -starting five- Sima (10), Barreiro (11), Bassas (7), Brizuela (7 ), Salvó (1), Jaime Fernández (7) and Yusta (6).
44 – North Macedonia (17+6+8+13): Nikolov (7), Stojanovski (3), Jamimovski (14), Gjuroski (2), Krstevski (7) -cinco inicial- Mekic (3), Robev (2), Maslinko (-), Tashovski (-), Efremovski ( -), Simic (6) and Stefanov (-).
Referees: Lucis (Latvia), Zapolski (Poland) and Deman (France). Excluded by staff Krstevski (m.38).
incidents: match corresponding to the third qualifying window for the 2023 World Cup played at the Príncipe Felipe pavilion in Zaragoza before 6,112 spectators. A minute of silence was observed in memory of Manolo Padilla, who was the delegate of the Spanish national team from the 1971 Eurobasket to the 2000 Olympic Games.
