By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
In what is going to be the most “Spanish” ever semifinal, you simply can’t bet against Pau Gasol and his “armada“, despite the fact that Doncic is the best ever 18 years old player in Eurobasket and he has numbers that can be compared with Don Pau himself.
Doncic, who signed a contract with Spanish power Real Madrid when he was just 13 years old and since then lives in the Spanish capital, had even the chance to join the Spanish national team. However, he chose to play for his native Slovenia and for the first time he will face his adopted country on the big stage.
Spain v Slovenia (20:30 CET/ 21:30 local time)
So far Slovenia has been admitted in a Eurobasket which is missing a lot of star power, thanks to the trio of Doncic, the de facto leader Goran Dragic in his last international tournament and naturalized big man Anthony Randolph, also a Real Madrid player.
Klemen Prepelic and Gaspar Vidmar has been the pleasant surprises of the team, Edo Muric also provided some help, but the Slovenian roster and its depth simply can’t be compared to the Spaniards. There are the Gasol brothers, the Hernangomez brothers, Ricky Rubio, Sergio Rodriguez, veteran Juan Carlos Navarro and trusted units, tested in the highest level of European basketball like Fernando San Emeterio, Guillermo Vives, Joan Sastre and Pierre Oriola. Yes, there’s a jump in quality between the starters and the bench, but still, a much better roster compared with Slovenia.
Having said that, in theory, Slovenia was outmatched also by Latvia in terms of talent, but coach Igor Kokoskov found the way to make things work for his team, while Dragic and Doncic were unstoppable. Still, Spain is much better, more experienced and battle tested than Porzingis and company.