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Spain will play its eleventh consecutive semifinal of a Eurobasket and the rival will be Germany, which will reissue the semifinal that both teams played in the European Championship in Belgrade 2005 and that ended with a German victory. Germany’s victory against Greece in the quarterfinals has meant that Friday’s game will be played at 8:30 p.m. due to “prime-time” and that the Teutons are the organizing country of the tournament. In Spain you can witness the clash through Cuatro.
The ambition of the national team has not stopped after the victory against Finland. “We want more and now we are going to enjoy the fact of being in the top four,” says Willy at a press conference. The center, who scored 27 points against the Nordics, spoke of “a tough battle in the quarterfinals because we had to give our best. We play
very bad in the first half, without mentality and then we did a great defense and moved the ball well”. Willy highlighted the figure of Rudy: “Rudy’s anger and Sergio’s (Scariolo) have been very good for us. We are the national team and when we move the ball, we defend strongly and we enjoy ourselves, we are a great team”.
Darío Brizuela pointed in the same direction as the Pelicans player. “We want more than the semifinals and we are going to fight for it”, said the Basque player. “I was very angry about how he was playing. It had been a disaster. That’s why I’m happy, because in the second half I was able to help. The key has been the defense, we have rebounded better and we have been very hard. That has been the key to the match”, confessed the shooting guard.
Juancho Hernangómez also called attention to the weak intensity and defense of the first two quarters. “We have given everything. I don’t know how much we were going down to the break. At the end of the second quarter we have already realized that we had to improve. We did it there and also at the beginning of the third quarter, being tougher than them, and in the end it was expensive. In the end we’re happy because we’ve won, but we can’t start playing when we’re twelve or fourteen points down. We are having a bit of luck and in the end we have time, but there may be a day when time is not enough. That’s why we have to improve, watch videos and think about the next game”, he stated. The Raptors forward made reference to Rudy: “He is the captain, the example to follow. Just seeing the actions he does gives us reasons to continue, fight harder and believe. He is the one who speaks in the locker room, he is the one who leads by example. He is Rudy, one of the greats in history”.
