Spain ensured their presence in the second round of the World Cup, just as they did this Monday both USA as Slovenia, two of the great favorites in betting. In the decisive match of the group, the team secured first place and also their qualification for the next phase with a solvent victory against Brazil (78-96), which only held out for three quarters, but ended up surrendering to the collective game of the selection and an outstanding performance of Juan Nunezwho at 19 years old continues to earn credit by leaps and bounds.
With 13 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists, the Madrid point guard signed a very complete performance, which left excellent feelings, but also had his minutes of prominence Santi Aldama (15 points, 4 rebounds) and usman garuba (8 points, 4 assists), the new blood that comes from behind.
Scariolo He already anticipated that it would be a night of suffering and his prognosis was not wrong, at least for 30 minutes. Brazil is far from recent famous names, such as Barbosa, Varejao or Nene, but they have a clear idea of the game and they execute it effectively. It is a rocky group, which hardly makes concessions and threatens since the creation of its children, especially Yago Santosthe player who has limited the minutes of Marcelinho Huertas, who is dosed by his coach. From there everything flows. TO Spain It was difficult for him to get into a meeting. Especially in defense. The American team scored too easily in the first quarter, which closed ahead on the scoreboard (22-21).
Interior actions, offensive rebounds and second chances, with a remarkable power of Bruno Caboclo in the area supported the Brazilian team, although happy He also brought forcefulness. Spain also moved with ease in attack with a nunez increasingly established in leadership. But the execution was not good. Too many missed open shots. So Scariolo shook the tree until he found offensive inspiration. Curiously, he came with two players who are the paradigm of defense: Alberto Diaz and, to a lesser extent, rudy, and also with Santí Aldama, a player who, as soon as he lets go, seems destined to become a benchmark.
triples to get up
Five consecutive triples from the point guard Unicaja and the escort of the Madrid between the end of the first quarter and the second, they disconnected the springs of the defense of Braziland opened up the first comfortable advantages for Spain, which it still found in the success of aldama and of Brizuela More reasons to grow.
He also found more energy on defense with Garuba and Aldama to close spaces near his hoop, to the point that, in the best minutes of the team, the advantages stretched to 12 points (32-44) with an excellent reading of nunez on both sides of the field, a difference that the American team slightly smoothed out to fall behind at halftime (42-50).
That offensive fluidity of the selection disappeared in the resumption. The game got tough. The intensity went up two steps, especially to conquer the space near the basket and each basket became a conquest. The development of the game moved to the defense. Those thick minutes showed that the team also knows how to suffer and rebuild itself from suffering. A triple of Juancho, it is still far from the level that is expected, and a couple of internal actions of Garuba and aldama managed to slightly unclog the systems, although Spain closed the third quarter with only 14 points scored and, after a triple of Meindl on the buzzer, with the feeling that everything was yet to be resolved (59-64).
Nothing to worry about. In this scenario of maximum pressure, the best image of the team appeared, the most effective. Garuba laid the foundations with six consecutive points three character actions and a steal, aldama stepped forward and nuñez he received a doctorate with a couple of talented actions, including a triple with an additional shot that completely dynamited the game and took the lead to 19 points, a barrier already impossible for Brazil to climb.