Βy Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net
Lille, France – It was called the “group of death” for a reason that was made obvious in Game 1.
The Spanish national team has already their backs on the wall after losing to Australia and a defeat in the second game of the tournament against Greece will push them to the brink of early elimination.
“We always compete, even in the second half against Australia we didn’t give up, we came back in the game, so it would be surprising if we do not show up at the game against Greece ready to compete”, said coach Sergio Scariolo afterward.
However, things against Greece will not be easy as he admitted: “Of course, this is a very very good team they have one of the best players in the world. I mean there are many qualities in their roster but on our side, we have to make sure we try to present our best version, the best possible version”.
Speaking about Australia, Scariolo admitted that his team was out of sync. The early tip-off time had to do something like that, but also it was hard for this version of Spain to match the physicality of Australia: “The level of physicality and athleticism of a team who has 8 -9 NBA players is different and this is what would put them above most of the teams. Then we figured it out. We found ways to compete, we found ways to stay in the game, to score. We have not been too consistent in the quality of our decision-making offensively. And we have to give credit to them because they got several offensive rebounds. That was probably the most important key in the second half. Physicality level in the first half was crazy, I would say”.