The Spanish players placed Santi Yusta, the Casademont Zaragoza forward, in the center of their circle, and gave him a loving beating at the end of the match against Slovakia. The player from Madrid who worked the miracle in Bratislava, was once again fundamental with his 25 points, four rebounds and four assists, to get Spain into next year’s Eurobasket, an event that has not been missed for decades, and in which He will defend the champion title he won in 2022 by defeating France in the final.
It was not an easy victory, despite the final score, because Slovakia, with a very small wardrobe, and some players like Brodziansky and Malovec playing more than 35 minutes, fought until the end and took advantage of any lapse in concentration by the Spanish team to get closer . Despite appearances, the Spanish had to sweat more than they expected. This is what happens when the coach has to put together a team based on promising young players, without much experience in the elite. These are the circumstances that the competitive format requires.
The first part of Spain was an exercise in solvency, that of a superior team over an inferior one. Although Sergio Scariolo’s team failed in the triple (2 of 9) and was also not successful in the free throw, with a poor 63% success rate, they knew how to sacrifice themselves in defense to hinder Slovakia’s actions and induce constant errors, especially all at launch. The Slovak team did not score comfortably and the lead could have skyrocketed to 15 points when both teams went to halftime.
But the start of the second half was as terrifying or more so than the one in Bratislava last Friday, because if then the end of the match was unexplored territory, and any impartial observer could predict that Spain would end up resolving in its favor, which it did locks and gullies. But the antecedents made the Spanish players tremble, because miracles are not usually repeated, so when the wide difference with which Scariolo’s team went to half-time began to diminish, at first slowly, then at greater speed, it began to cold sweat runs down the back of the Italian coach.
In another bad start to the third quarter, a run of 2-15 (49-47), left Slovakia only two points ahead. Spain’s scoring capacity in the first half was blocked, because the Slovaks took to the field with much more intensity, without giving up any ball and taking advantage of Spanish indolence. Alocén had to return to the court to put things in order. In a burst of fury, Spain came back to put things in their place and start the last ten minutes with a lead of 14 points, which was reduced again, until Yusta appeared to put things in their place with a triple with 1.41m that distanced the Slovaks by ten points. Another three-point shot from Madrid with thirty seconds left definitively sealed Spain’s qualification for the Eurobasket.
