By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
MANILA, Philippines – The Canadian national team had a distinguished guest in their practice in Manila. Basketball icon Pau Gasol was there, catching up with David Blatt, who is a consultant of the team, and also with Spanish coach Jordi Fernandez.
“I guess you could say that”, Pau said with a smile when asked if he supports Canada a bit more now, thanks to Fernandez.
As he explained: “I guess personal relationships and attachments to whatever team or whatever franchise, no matter what kind of, makes you more pull for them”.
Speaking about the semifinal against Luka Doncic’s Slovenia, Pau Gasol added: “It could have gone either way. In Canada, at the end of the day, they played a little better down the stretch and they took it. Again, we have great semifinals in this tournament. Serbia is playing really well. For Canada, I think looking at the roster you’ll see that they definitely have a very talented team. And Jordi has done a great job with the team, which is why I’m mainly here to say hi to Jordi”.
Of course, Pau Gasol had to mention coach David Blatt who is battling multiple sclerosis but is still active. “It’s great to see David Blatt as well here”, said Pau taking a stroll down memory lane when Blatt was the coach of the Russian national team. “We had so many battles against his Russian team”.
Watch the upcoming World Cup on the official streaming service of FIBA! Join Courtside 1891 and never miss a second of the action!
So who is going to win the gold medal: “We have the USA against Germany. Germany has been also playing well. It’ll be fun. That’s exciting. So it’s tough to say. I think the beauty is, again, we’ve seen this championship and we’ve seen many championships. It could go either way. I don’t think anyone would be surprised if Canada wins tomorrow. But if Serbia plays well and those guys get going and Bodgan does what he does, they’re great. So again, it’ll be fun. And then the USA is always kind of the favorite. But they also can lose if they don’t play at their best”.
And that’s what makes it special according to Pau: “That’s the beauty of the World Cup, right? And at the end of the day, hopefully, I think the best team should win it and we’ll see what the best thing is”.