And again Yusta, now with an alley-oop pass that Fran Guerra crushes with one hand. BASKET!!!
And Yusta who appears again to the rescue: in an individual action he penetrates and scores 2+1 (55-47). The Casademont Zaragoza player is being the main generator in Spain’s offensive game. He already has 19 points.
New loss for Spain and new triple for Abhram. The partial is 2-15, difficult to understand how Spain allowed itself to come back (49-47. Providential triple by Puerto to give Spain some air.
Spain breaks the partial thanks to a robbery and counterattack by Yusta, who has already had a few similar actions. But the team already has 4 losses in this third quarter. Abhram’s triple and Slovakia gets within five points. Scariolo has to stop it after a 0-10 run.
Malovec nails the three-pointer from the corner and puts Slovakia only 10 points behind. Yusta loses a ball and point guard Ihrinh can further reduce the Spanish advantage from the free throw line (0-7 partial)
Spain does not see a goal in the first two minutes of the second half.
Third foul by the giant Fusek (2.23), Pavelka replaces him.
Slovakia finally scores, with a hook from their rook, Fusek. Santi Yusta continues to be the protagonist and two of his actions allow Spain to retreat to the locker room with their maximum advantage of the match: a one-handed bomb and a steal that ended with Puerto’s mate.
The drought continues for Slovakia, who have not scored since the 15th minute. And Spain, which continues to increase its advantage.
Two free throws from Yusta return Spain to its biggest lead of the game
And another from Pradilla, now working it to the low post. Maximum advantage for Spain, +10.
Port triple at a providential moment as Slovakia was getting dangerously close. Pradilla puts Spain 8 up again
Hiopos Lleida point guard Rafa Villar enters the court, it is his debut with the national team. Brodziansky’s trip to bring Slovakia closer together
The giant Fusek places his second block (he had six on Friday) and two free throws bring Slovakia closer
Spain slows down its progression in attack but continues to tie up Slovakia with its defense
The Spanish team reacts with a basket by Guerra, a steal and counterattack by Alocén and a new basket by the Granca point guard (6-0).
A tap by Brodziansky puts Slovakia only two behind, but De Larrea responds with a basket. Pavelka also notes.
Spain has lost some clarity in these last two minutes of the quarter and retires at the end of the first quarter with only four points ahead.
Brodziansky tries to prevent Spain’s escape, first with a post and now with a triple
Great footwork from Fran Guerra, who leaves the layup on the board after beating Brodziansky. And another great action by Guerra, a backdoor pass for De Larrea’s basket. Slovakia coach Aramis Naglic calls for time.
Steal by Yusta, who culminates the play with a dunk on the counterattack. Salvó receives a block and the referees call him a foul in the fall for grabbing his defender.
Alocén and Salvó enter for Díaz and Puerto. The Gran Canaria point guard breaks the drought of both teams with a triple.
Enter the giant Fusek (2.23). Spain does not take advantage of its offensive rebounds and misses several triples in a row
Brodkiansky beats Pradilla in the low post
Another from Pavelka, who receives under the basket and hangs. Great feint by Yusta before leaving the tray. Puerto achieves his first points with the national team with a five-meter shot.
Yusta misses two of his three free throws and Pavelka, after an offensive rebound, scores the first basket for the Slovaks. Four-meter Pradilla responds.
Spain begins with Díaz, Puerto, Yusta, Pradilla and Sima. The first basket was scored by the Unicaja center after an offensive rebound.
With only a few minutes left until the start of the match, it does not seem that the Pazo Paco Paz will be full to see Spain. Good entrance but far from full, although people are still arriving.
Spain will face the match with the absence of Xabi López-Arostegui, who has left the concentration due to an overload in his left knee. Regarding Friday’s game, Oriol Paulí and Mario Saint-Supery will not repeat either, with three Josep Puerto, Rafa Villar and Jonathan Barreiro entering in their place. For the first two it will be their debut with the Spanish team.
Sergio Scariolo hopes that his players do not become overconfident and that he remembered the defeats of other ‘greats’ (Germany, Greece, Slovenia) in their matches in recent days. “We will have to complete the job because this victory against Slovakia would mean securing qualification for the European Championship. We have seen how difficult it is, especially at this point in the season, to face any rival. The defeats of top-level teams such as Germany, Greece and Slovenia have demonstrated this in a very tangible way,” he noted.
“We must have a continuity of defensive aggressiveness, energy and attitude, as we had in the first half of the Bratislava match, to be able to set the pace and be able to attack in the first seconds of possession,” the coach indicated yesterday. Sergio Scariolo.
Spain does not want to waste the opportunity and trusts in the support of the Galician fans to carry out this second duel with the Central Europeans with much less trouble than the first, in which it needed a miraculous basket from Santi Yusta and two overtimes to take the victory (74 -78).
Good afternoon! Welcome to the live narration of the match that the basketball teams of Spain and Slovakia will play corresponding to the Pre-European 2025. Sergio Scariolo’s team will ensure its presence in the next Eurobasket (August 27 to September 14) if it manages to win the match today.
The match will be held at the Paco Paz pazo in Ourense starting at 8:00 p.m.
Play for Brodziansky upon returning from time out and the UCAM power forward does not miss the low post.