Spain broke its five-game losing streak – the worst since 1980 – in the friendly against the Dominican Republic in Alicante (84-74), and few conclusions can be drawn from it, except that when Sergio Scariolo’s team defends with intensity, things go better for them. For many minutes, the Spanish team let themselves go in defence, and the Dominicans had too many opportunities to score under the basket. When seriousness prevailed, Spain managed to stretch the score in its favour. After the defeat against Italy in the previous friendly, some doubts arose about the performance in the run-up to the Olympics.
With a starting five that the Italian coach repeated at the start of the second half, the Spanish team initially tried to distance themselves with three-pointers, but they missed their aim (2 of 11 in the first quarter), and the Dominicans took advantage of this to get closer on the scoreboard and get ahead, playing to the rhythm of Chris Duarte, the Sacramento Kings shooting guard, who ended up scoring 27 points and becoming the only resistance for the Caribbean team when they started to get fouled.
As expected in a test like this, Scariolo was trying out various options on the court. He gave minutes to many players and made the debut of the Valladolid point guard Sergio De Larrea, 18 years old and 2.03 meters tall, who made his debut with unusual poise, and who scored a triple in the last second of the first half to put the score in Spain’s favor (43-38). The promising Spaniard played the recently finished season in the LEB Plata League with l’Horta Godella, averaging 13.7 points.
With ups and downs, in the second half, the Spaniards widened the gap, which went to 15 points, despite the poor performance of almost everyone, although Lorenzo Brown, who returned to the national team after arranging his signing with Panathinaikos, made the difference with his 14 points, while Usman Garuba stood out on the rebound (6) to consolidate Spain’s victory, which next week will play to be in Paris, against Lebanon first and Angola later in the first phase.
On Sunday, Scariolo will give the final list of twelve players, although he already announced that the promising De Larrea, who had attended the concentration as a guest, will leave it after the game against the Dominicans. The Italian must make two discards, which will depend on the condition of Alex Abrines, who, with a fiber injury, could be left out. The one who will return in time from the draft in the United States will be point guard Juan Núñez, who will reinforce the team in the tournament that offers a ticket to the Olympic Games.
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2024-06-28 19:54:55
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