The Spanish men’s basketball team, with Alberto Diaz among the 12 chosen by Sergio Scariolowill complete its preparation for the Games on Tuesday with a friendly against fellow Olympian Puerto Rico at the WiZink Center in Madrid (8:30 p.m.).
The long road to Paris 2024 began on June 6, when coach Sergio Scariolo provided the list of 22 players who began preparing for the Valencia Pre-Olympic, a list in which the Cajista was initially included. Yankuba Sima, who was ultimately one of Sergio Scariolo’s discards for the upcoming event that starts next weekend in the French capital.
Good preparation
Preparations began with the first training sessions in Malaga, specifically at The Embassy, before moving to Madrid to continue polishing details, in a process where the movement of personnel was constant due to the progressive incorporation of international players depending on the end of the respective seasons with their teams.
In that context “La Familia” played their first friendly, also at the WiZink Center, against Italy. Even without the presence of point guard Lorenzo Brown, an important piece in the scheme, the match ended in a defeat by 84-87.
The following friendly match against the Dominican Republic marked the first victory of this preparatory phase, by 84-74.
The Italian coach of the Spanish national basketball team, Sergio Scariolo. / EFE
Valencia Pre-Olympic
When push came to shove, Spain lived up to expectations and achieved what it had set out to do. After beating Lebanon (59-104) and Angola (89-81) in the first round and then beating Finland (74-81), Sergio Scariolo’s men put the finishing touch by defeating Bahamas (86-78) in the final. A Pre-Olympic tournament in which Alberto Díaz earned himself minutes and a leading role with a good performance, especially in the vital clash against Finland that gave him a pass to the final against the Bahamas.
After a few days of rest, after successfully overcoming that obstacle, a new concentration in Madrid followed, which has already included a Friendly match against Argentina in Guadalajara ended in victory (76-72).
Puerto Rico, last date
The face-to-face against Puerto Rico will be the final point on Tuesday before traveling to Lille on Thursday to face a group in which they will coincide with Australia, Greece and Canada, also played by Unicaja player Melvin Ejim.
2024-07-22 20:21:35
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