Spain beats Lebanon to open Olympic dream

Spain beats Lebanon to open Olympic dream

The Spanish start off in the best way before facing Angola

Spain got off to the best start in the men’s pre-Olympic basketball tournament, which is being played in Valencia, and beat the Lebanese team (59-104) at La Fonteta with great authority and thus begin to dream of being in Paris 2024, although there is still a long way to go and the next step is against Angola, with the rematch of Barcelona 92 ​​in mind and the first objective: to be in the semi-finals.

Sergio Scariolo’s men, led by Memphis Grizzlies center Santi Aldama and Golden State Warriors No. 5 Usman Garuba, nullified Lebanon from the start and the game practically consisted of a wall with the Asian basket as the objective. Spain went further, did not hesitate, did not slow down and put in a great performance.

Lebanon was unable to offer much resistance beyond taking a 6-5 lead in the first quarter. That was their biggest lead and it lasted just 33 seconds. Once that mirage was over, the Spanish #LaFamilia got going and didn’t stop or hesitate until the final score of 59-104, after having a maximum lead of 47 points.

With this victory, Spain is practically qualified for the semi-finals. A win against Angola is enough for them, but even a second ‘Angolazo’ could leave Spain in the semis, as second. But that scenario, given this first duel against a Lebanon that is growing in Asia and that has interesting players like Omari Spellman, Youssef Khayat and Sergio El Darwich, is not contemplated.

Without a doubt, a possible minor muscle injury to Juancho Hernangómez, who was only able to play 8 minutes, is the only negative note in a game in which Spain was enormous in defense and attack, with a choral performance despite the 17 points of Santi Aldama, ‘MVP’ of the game, or the 15 of Usman Garuba and 14 of the ‘local’ Jaime Pradilla.

The night allowed players to rotate and play, who, if they make it to Paris, might not be as important. Also notable was Darío Brizuela’s streak of three-pointers, with four of them in a row in the last quarter to catapult Spain over 100 points and to those stratospheric maximum differences.

With the score at 31-51 at half-time, the job was done and the best thing was that in the second half, far from slowing down the pace and their efforts, Scariolo’s men listened to their coach and went for more, after a time-out in which the Italian appealed to continue at their best. And this without great physical strain, as only Xabi López-Arostegui (23:35) and Santi Aldama (22:22) played more than 20 minutes on the court.

SPAIN CONTROLS SPELLMAN, THE LEBANESE LIGHTHOUSE

The best Lebanese player was center Youssef Khayat, from Bowling Green State University in the United States, with 20 points. But the great reference at the start of the match was Omari Rasulala Spellman, the center of American origin who won an NCAA title in 2018 with Villanova and was one of the best in the class of 2016.

However, despite being drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, he did not shine in the NBA or the G League and opted to go play in South Korea and become a Lebanese citizen. He scored 13 points against Spain, but went from strength to strength and ended up tied up by the Spanish inside players, without being able to do anything against Aldama, Garuba or Willy Hernangómez.

DATASHEET.

–RESULT: LEBANON, 59 – SPAIN, 104 (31-51, at half-time).

–EQUIPMENT.

LEBANON: Khalil (-), El Darwich (13), Haidar (2), Spellman (13) and Khayat (20) –initial quintet–; Zeinoun (-), Mansour (3), Ezzedine (2), Gyokchyan (-), Mezher (-) and Hadidian (6).

SPAIN: Brown (7), Llull (6), Lopez-Arostegui (6), Aldama (17) and Willy Hernangómez (8) –starting five–; Pradilla (14), Fernandez (9), Brizuela (12), Diaz (6), Juancho Hernangómez (2), Garuba (15) and Nunez (2).

–PARTIALS: 18-24, 13-27, 13-27 and 15-26.

–REFEREES: Kozlovskis (LAT), Batista (PUR) and Burns (USA). No eliminations.

–PAVILION: San Luis Fountain Pavilion.