Spain delivered on Sunday their best defensive display of EuroBasket 2015 in front of an all-time record crowd of 27,372 spectators at Lille's Pierre Mauroy stadium to roll past Lithuania 80-63 and lift their third European trophy in the last four championships.
Turning Point: Spain claimed possession of the driver's seat once and for all one minute after tip-off, when Sergio Llull took the lane for the second time in a row and scored with a lay-up to make it 4-2. Sergio Scariolo's men reached a double-digit lead, 15-4, on a Pau Gasol dunk 5:05 from the end of the opening quarter and stretched the gap to 16 points in the second frame, but Renaldas Seibutis instigated a Lithuanian fightback and Jonas Maciulis knocked down a triple at the half-time buzzer to reduce the deficit to 41-33. Spain felt that this gap did not reflect their dominance in the first half and made sure to rectify immediately once play resumed as a Pau Ribas triple with 5:50 left to play in the third capped off an 11-2 sequence that made it 53-35 and the gap never dropped to single digits again.
Stats Don't Lie: The sublime, masterfully-set Spanish defence stifled Lithuania and converted the Baltic side's search for open looks in a frustrating quest during long stretches. Lithuania shot a damning 35% from the floor and, perhaps more indicatively, only 42% from within the paint.
Game Hero: On the night that he passed Nikos Galis for third on the EuroBasket all-time scorers list, Pau Gasol also repeated the feat he had accomplished in 2009 and 2011 and paved the way to a EuroBasket crown for his nation. The Spanish legend finished the final with a double-double of 25 points and 12 rebounds, also adding four assists and three blocks and walked away with the gold medal, the title of EuroBasket top scorer for the third time in his career and of course with tournament MVP honours.
Bottom Line: Spain endured three long years without a gold medal in any major competition and saw their supremacy in European basketball placed in doubt but they improved in every single game since their opening night loss to Serbia in Berlin and avenged the loss to Lithuania in the EuroBasket 2003 final to cap off a dream campaign of redemption.
0 comments:
Post a Comment