By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Sergio Scariolo has already won three Eurobasket titles with Spain and that’s why he wouldn’t dare to underestimate anyone and especially Finland, which he faces on Tuesday (13/9, 17.15 CET) for a spot in the semifinals
“Because of the way they play, they are the most difficult opponent I have had to prepare for”, he said speaking to the media, simply because Finland can shoot: “It has been especially difficult to prepare for this match. Really very difficult at a tactical level, to interpret an opponent who plays in an original, atypical, very effective way with five open shooters, with a world-class star, and with other excellent shooters, the team who shoots three more and better, who runs more in transition…”
Still, Spain and Scariolo have the know-how: “I have been here since 2009. There is a fairly deep barrel to fish from. I expect a very demanding game for the players on the court. I hope that we have and I expect that we will have the maximum respect and maximum hardness. It is a team that, if you let them play, drives you crazy and can make you dizzy by scoring a triple at the end of possession after running like a headless chicken for 23 seconds. It is a difficult team and we will see if we are mentally capable of living up to what a Eurobasket quarter-final entails and what it demanded of us”.
And while Scariolo totally respects Lauri Markkanen, the third-best scorer in the Eurobasket, he also knows better: “The question is not so much to defend him but to defend the whole team, which is full of shooters besides Salin and Koponen, who are extraordinary at that. In general, many of their players shoot three-pointers. You have to defend him but do it very intelligently and very carefully so as not to open other leaks elsewhere. When you have so much court space to cover, the task of the players is always more complicated, especially so as not to get distracted or get lost in unnecessary help, not to become swallowed in the paint if it is not necessary. It takes a very high level of concentration”.