Spain stroll past Slovenia 86 – 64; Reach the last four in FIBA EuroBasket - Part 1
On Wednesday, defending European Champions Spain showed their class with a blowout win over Slovenia as they marched into the semi finals of EuroBasket. Spain trounced Slovenia 86 – 64 as their seasoned veterans proved too much for the opponents.
Spain won on the back of a scintillating 2nd half after Slovenia had managed to keep them in check for the first 2 quarters. Standout performances were recorded by Pay Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro. Gasol produced a polished double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds while Navarro ended the game as the top scorer with 26 points.
Slovenia struggled throughout the game, especially in attack and no single player was able to provide the spark their side needed, given the occasion. The best of an average bunch was Goran Dragic who managed 14 points in the game while grabbing 5 boards. Mirza Begic grabbed the same number of rebounds and contributed with 10 points as well.
After the game, Spanish head Coach Sergio Scariolo praised the Slovenian side for the effort put in and also gushed upon the performance of his players. He picked out Navarro for special praise too.
“We're very happy to reach another goal we set to ourselves - be one of the top four teams in Europe. Slovenia deserve a lot of credit for how they started the game. They were tough and played well under the basket. In the first five minutes of the second half things changed in our favour. We played good defence already in the second quarter when we stopped them on just eight points and that was a sign for us things are going good despite the first quarter. We reduced our turnovers, played with good tempo, didn't rush things and we enjoyed a great day by Juan Carlos Navarro.”
Slovenia actually started off as the stronger team. They came out firing in the first quarter and established a lead that they will hold until it ended. At one point, Slovenia led by as much as 8 with the score at 14 – 8. Spain on the other hand were sluggish in the first period, and failed to make any inroads as they quarter finished at 23 – 16 to Slovenia.
The Spaniards showed their true pedigree in the second quarter though, reducing Slovenia to an ineffective force. They outscored the Slovenians by 11 points in the quarter. Scores were drawn with 4:10 remaining at 25 – 25 via two Pau Gasol free throws. Slovenia responded with a big three pointer to upset the momentum, but Spain were not to be denied. By the end of the quarter they had taken a four point lead at 35 – 31.
Link for Part-2: http://www.senore.com/Spain-stroll-past-Slovenia-86-64-Reach-the-last-four-in-FIBA-EuroBasket-Part-2-a97527
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