spain stumbled this Tuesday before the wall of Lithuania in his third preparation test for the Eurobasket disputed in Gran Canaria against a Baltic team that imposed its physique and its success against a rival that, although managed to overcome a 16-point deficitin the end he was overwhelmed by the rival’s outside shot in the outcome of an entertaining clash (77-82).
the eaves Ignas Brazdeikis, with 19 points and 5 rebounds, led the Lithuanian game with the permission of NBA players Domantas Sabonis and Jonas Valanciunas. For its part, Willy Hernangomez He led the Spanish reply with 25 points and 9 sacks in a duel in which his team went from less to more, but it was not enough to win.
In an intense and even start, the Baltic team set the tone with two triples followed by Rock Giedraitis (0-6) in just one minute that made clear the panorama that the team led by Sergio Scariolowho had looked out for the Hernangómez brothers -Juancho and Willy- to minimize dominance in the Valanciunas area.
Lithuania dominates the scoreboard
However, other protagonists jumped to the fore, such as Brazdeikis and Jokubaitis, which kept Lithuania ahead midway through the first quarter (9-12). From then on, the Italian coach hurried with the rotations, but his team continued to be more than stuck in attack, a situation that Sabonis took advantage of to stretch the difference (9-17) from the paint.
With Scariolo’s first time out, Spain managed to stop the bleeding with baskets by Fran Guerra and Sergio Llull, seasoned with a triple by Dario Brizuela, but he continued to suffer with the Sabonis-Valanciunas duo, when the two NBAs coincided in the inside game (16-24). Spain made use of the perimeter due to the scarce success in the shots of two –a meager 18% until the 14th minute of the game-.
After reaching a difference of 12 points (25-37), La Roja gradually improved its performance, with Willy clumping gallons on the boards (34-39). A suspended triple by Grigonis broke Spain’s 12-2 run, although Sebas Saiz made up for it with a final shot that left the score a tighter 36-42 at halftime.
The panorama changed in the resumption. The ‘Willy dependency’ increased -the Pelicans center reached 20 points in the 22nd minute of the match-. The equation worked and with it, the selection tightened the nuts in the electronic (42-44). But again Sabonis gave oxygen to his team, also cementing a new scoring drive (44-59).
spanish short circuit
The nerves began to surface. After the technique to Scariolo for protesting, another one came shortly after Willy, causing a real short in the national team. However, the reaction would come with the entry of Usman Garuba, who took advantage of Quino Colom’s assists to revive his team with a 9-0 run at the end of the third period (57-64).
Errors and fouls multiplied in both hoops at the start of the last round. Nevertheless, in troubled river Spain was imposing muscle and defensive rigor. Juancho began to carburete and so did Lorenzo Brown, with two consecutive baskets to equalize the contest (66-66) with five minutes to go.
However, a jump shot by Valanciunas and two three-pointers by Jokubaitis and Brazdeikis once again put land in the middle (69-76) in the final stretch. Scariolo’s men launched a final ordeal in the last few bars but it was not enough. Lithuania took the win by a tight 77-82 and now Hispanics and Baltics will meet again this Thursday in Vilnius.
Datasheet:
77. Spain (13+23+21+20): Brown (11), Pradilla (2), López-Aróstegui (-), Juancho Hernangómez (14) and Willy Hernangómez (25) -initial team-; Fernández (2), Brizuela (7), Colom (1), Sáiz (2), Garuba (6), Llull (5), Guerra (2) and Parra (-).
82. Lithuania (19+23+22+18): Brazdeikis (19), Giedraitis (11), Sabonis (13), Jokubaitis (9) and Valanciunas (10), -equipo inicial-; Tarolis (-), Echodas (2), Masiulis (-), Grigonis (11), Lekavicius (4) and Butkevicius (3).
Referees: Francisco Araña, Xavi Torres and Arnau Padrós. no deleted
Incidences: Third preparation match for the Eurobasket of the Spanish Basketball team played at the Gran Canaria Arena before 5,647 spectators. At halftime, an emotional tribute was paid to former player Albert Oliver by the Association of Professional Basketball Players (ABP) for his long career in sports.
