By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The Spaniards got an imposing 77-104 win over the Turks in the last Group B game for the day in the German capital. Even though there are lots of big gaps in the Spanish squad left by the absences of some big players – a big part of the reason they lost to Serbia in the opening encounter – their starting five and their second squad were more than enough to get the job done tonight.
Pau Gasol was spectacular with 21 points and 7 boards. Sergio Rodriguez racked up 14 with 2 rebounds and 5 assists. Felipe Reyes (4 rebounds, 3 assists) wasn’t bad at all, scoring 12, and Rudy Fernandez and Fernando San Emerio shared 10 points each with the latter also dishing out 4 assists.
“Definitely a good game for us,” Gasol stated. “We came out with the right attitude and right mindset. We did what we were supposed to do with intensity, with concentration, without carrying over any tension from last night’s loss against Serbia. Overall a good game, we shot the ball extremely well, we shared it, we defended strong. Hopefully this is how we are going to play in every game from now on.”
The Turks have their significant absences too, such as Dogus Balbay and Omer Asik, and even though this didn’t prevent them in getting a win against Italy yesterday, tonight they couldn’t put up much of a fight. Ersan Ilyasova scored 15, trying to lead by example one of the most youthful rosters in the tournament. Melih Mahmutoglu and Huseyin Koksal (3 rebounds) had 12 apiece, and Cedi Osman enhanced the effort with 9 of his own plus 4 boards.
Mahmutoglu said that he didn’t want to speak about the game “out of respect for the situation in our country right now. We’re all very sad because of what transpired today. We send our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives today. Aside from that, we have a game against Germany coming and we’re going to win that game in honour of those who passed away.”
Turkey v Spain – Group B – Game Highlights – EuroBasket 2015 by FIBA