Spain gives a 'slap' to Montenegro and gets into the second round of the Eurobasket

After the defeat against Belgium, which increased doubts within the team and put the classification in danger, coach Sergio Scariolo explained that his renewed group, with little experience, needed that "slap" to face the Eurobasket differently.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
06 September 2022 Tuesday 14:33
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Spain gives a 'slap' to Montenegro and gets into the second round of the Eurobasket

After the defeat against Belgium, which increased doubts within the team and put the classification in danger, coach Sergio Scariolo explained that his renewed group, with little experience, needed that "slap" to face the Eurobasket differently. Lesson learned, Spain beat a subdued Montenegro who turned the other cheek, completely disarmed by a Spanish team that recovered the good feelings of the first two games and made it to the round of 16. In the match against Turkey this Wednesday, which could have been a 'final', only the first place in Group A will be at stake.

Aware of what was at stake, the team jumped onto the Tbilisi Arena parquet decisively, without speculating, attacking the rim as soon as the Balkans left the slightest gap. Despite his shoulder discomfort, Lorenzo Brown was the offensive engine in the first few minutes with five assists. But the proper name of the initial ten minutes was that of Pradilla, who scored nine points in that period.

Spain flowed, intoned in attack and again with an intensity in defense that provoked the Montenegrins' hasty shots from the perimeter again and again. Dubljevic, Perry and Mihailovic, the main threats, barely entered the game, always uncomfortable. The advantage went up to ten points at the end of the initial quarter (17-27) and continued to grow in the following minutes thanks to the success from the triple.

Juancho Hernangómez joined the party, with two triples, and Brizuela was infected by the dynamic. The 'Basque mamba', on fire, went up to 11 points in the fourth. Bosko Radovic's players stopped the bleeding by taking advantage of a couple of errors (29-42), but after the appropriate time-out and supported by Brown's calm, the lead widened again at half-time (31-53).

Spain dominated all records. To the tremendous success in shots of two and three, both statistics with 67% efficiency in the first two quarters, was added the ability to close the rebound, especially offensively, where Willy Hernangómez stood out, who finished with a double-double ( 14 points and 13 rebounds). Far from reacting, Montenegro continued without finding a way to get rid of La Familia's sticky defense, which continued to do its thing on the other rim, with good circulation, hardly any bounces, and incisive despite the comfortable scoreboard. The maximum income became 27 points (35-62).

The team only relaxed in the middle of the third quarter, when Mihailovic woke up with two triples in a row and Radovic seconded him with another success from 6.75 meters that reduced the distance below 20 points before the final tie (48-67 ). The last quarter, however, was left over, the game was very difficult with Spain much more ill-advised, making worse decisions, while Montenegro did not show the least bit of faith in a miracle. The errors followed one another until the final honk that certified the classification of Spain, which on the last day will meet the fearsome rival of the 'group of death' that awaits them at the crossroads.

Montenegro (17 14 17 17): Perry (10), Radoncic (8), Simonovic (11), Dubljevic (3) y Popovic (4) -cinco inicial-, Drobnjak (0), Ilic (2), Mihailovic (18), Nikolic (0) y Radovic (9).

Spain (27 26 14 15): Brown (12), Jaime Fernández (9), López-Arostegui (5), Pradilla (12) and Willy Hernangómez (14) -five starters-, Rudy Fernández (0), Parra (0 ), Juancho Hernangómez (6), Garuba (2), Saiz (2), Díaz (2) and Brizuela (18).

Referees: Oskars Lucis (LET), Sergii Zashchuk (UKR) and Gatis Salins (LET). without eliminated

Incidents: Match corresponding to the fourth day of group A of the Eurobasket played at the Tbilisi Arena in Tbilisi before some 1,000 spectators.