Spain reaches the final after suffocating Serbia

Spanish training basketball continues to be sweet this summer, the first normal after the inconveniences of the last two years due to the coronavirus. The U-18, with a superb exercise in defense and a huge Izan Almansa, will play the final of the European Championship of the category, which takes place in Izmir (Turkey), by prevailing over Serbia (38-60). Their rival today for gold will be the host country (7:30 p.m., Teledeporte and YouTube FIBA), reissuing the last final, that of 2019, which ended in victory for the National Team.

It is already, whatever happens, the fifth medal for Spain in this summer period. First, the world silvers of the men’s and women’s Under-17s would come, who only gave in (and with their heads held high) before the great international ogre, the United States. Then, it would be the turn for the continental golds of the U-20 women’s and men’s. This Sunday, the fifth will fall, the 12th in the history of the Sub-18: three golds and silvers and five bronzes until this championship. It only remains to know the color.

And it will be gold if Daniel Miret’s boys maintain their style book in defense, the one that allows them to travel to the final with only 48.5 points against and that left the second best attack of the tournament (75.4 goals on average) in just 38 points, the lowest score received by Spain in this European.

Serbia was suffocated by the strength and legs of Izan Almansa and Sediq Garuba. The MVP of the U-17 World Cup and the Madrid youth squad (and Usman’s brother) repeatedly dismantled Serbian penetrations and their attempts to dominate the paint. But they weren’t the only ones to show muscle: Eddy Pinedo, Jordi Rodríguez, Rafa Villar… each and every one of the players that Miret put on the court stifled a rival who fell 13-31 at halftime.

The Slavs did not score their first basket in play until the 9th minute and after a 0/11 in field goals. A suicidal tendency that they followed like lemmings: in 15 minutes they only had 9 goals. In 27 they finally managed to exceed twenty (21) with 19% in the shot fueled by their 1/19 from the perimeter.

The U-18 only had to push their rival down the ravine. And it didn’t take long to do it. The +18 from the break turned into a +27 (23-50) at the end of the third quarter with Almansa already in the double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds for a PIR of 25. The Murcian power forward closed with 21 and 12 for 29, and with a lot of a pint of getting his second MVP of the summer this Sunday. But first, the gold.