Comfortable triumph to start. With a simple, very offensive and collective festival, Spain overwhelmed the weak Bulgaria and entered the Eurobasket on the right foot. As many as seven Sergio Scariolo players scored 10 or more points, with Lorenzo Brown leading the way (17). The victory was taken for granted, even in the current circumstances of the selection, and this came with a joint and supportive image.
The new reality, without most of the stars of its splendid past, began for Spain in Tbilisi (Georgia) against the Bulgarian team, one of the exponents of the excess of teams in a Eurobasket with 24 teams. The Bulgarian, the worst in the FIBA ranking among the participants (number 54), barely has a couple of known players. They are the former Barça player and current member of Olympiacos Vezenkov (26 points) and the nationalized American point guard Dee Bost (Galatasaray), who was also not very good. Although it was Stoilov, who plays on horseback between Canoe and Estudiantes, who initially gave the Spanish team some problems.
Nothing serious because Scariolo's men quickly took the lead with ease (20-9, minute 7).
Lorenzo Brown offered his good wrist, the Hernangómez took a step forward and in defense the Spanish took it seriously. In good times Spain could, and had even been scared, relax in this type of situation because it felt and knew it was far superior. Now the best thing, according to the coach himself, was to start giving a good image to gain confidence within this process of generational change.
That there are no superfigures, because the important thing is to play as a team. That is the message from Scariolo, who moved the bench a lot and who had relieved his entire starting lineup within the first quarter (28-17).
Bulgaria did not ooze quality and was also soft when it came to charging and protecting rebounds. Pradilla, Garuba, Parra…everyone signed up for the festival under the hoops.
Outside, the veteran of the group, Rudy Fernández, spurred on with his triples. If the madridista has never cut himself now that he has remained the oldest in the place (he tied this Thursday with Epi for second place in caps with 239 games) he has a patent for almost everything. Another triple, in this case by Brown (10 points already at halftime), raised the lead to 19 (43-24). There was no color (57-35 at intermission) although Spain got stuck at some point while testing elements that can serve them during the tournament.
Because to a large extent the meeting was nothing more than a rehearsal bench for Professor Scariolo, as if it were another preparation match, but with the packaging that the victory was already worth it to get the classification for the round of 16 on track. A meeting in which Brown took advantage of the rival's weakness to gain followers.
On Saturday awaits the second commitment of the selection. It will be against the host Georgia (7:00 p.m.).
