07/29/2021 10:48
Clarín.com
sports
Updated 07/29/2021 11:33 AM
The Argentine basketball team added its second consecutive defeat in group B of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games: it fell to the world champion, Spain, by
81-71
at the Saitama Super Arena and now he will play his last chances to remain in competition on Sunday at 1.40 against Japan.
Luka Doncic's lopsided loss to Slovenia in the opener had narrowed the margin of error.
As if this were not a pressure, but an incentive, Argentina raised a very firm defense from the beginning that allowed them to force four losses from Spain in the first two minutes, run and take advantage with seven consecutive points from Nicolás Laprovittola and a remote bomb by Facundo Campazzo (12-3).
After Sergio Scariolo stopped the game to talk to his players, Spain returned revitalized by the hand of Ricky Rubio, who had been the scorer in the victory against Japan and again put his team on his shoulder: with a burst of 11 points put him in front 16-15.
In any case, the intensity in defense of Sergio Hernández's team allowed him to regain control of the game and go to the first break with a 25-20 advantage thanks to 10 points from Laprovíttola and 8 from Campazzo.
Nicolás Laprovíttola's goal-scoring contribution was not enough for the Argentine team.
(Photo: Kai Fösterling / EFE)
Despite the fact that Scariolo had rotated his entire team, Spain paired at the start of the second quarter with the contribution of their refreshment veterans: Pau Gasol, Sergio Rodríguez and Sergio Llull.
Argentina closed the ring (it only added four points in the first six minutes of the period), but the losses of the Europeans prevented them from taking off.
In fact, a triple by Laprovíttola (15 points in the first half) gave Argentina the lead back 32-31.
Anyway, the attack was less and less fluid and the shots, more and more forced by the rival defense.
With the return to the field of Ricky Rubio, Spain had a better finish in a quarter with low goals and thus went to the long break with six rental points (40-34).
In a sloppy start to the third quarter, with numerous errors and inaccuracies, the champion achieved his maximum advantage at 2.37 of that chapter (45-36) and threatened to take off definitively, but Laprovíttola's aim kept Argentina in the game.
Facundo Campazzo had to leave for personal fouls in the last quarter of the match against Spain.
(Photo: Alkis Konstantinidis / Reuters)
Campazzo's fourth personal foul - not very bright at night - caused Hernández to give up his starting point guard (he was replaced by Luca Vildoza) and added an extra difficulty. The rigorous Spanish defense and the lack of goal lines (Luis Scola only added four points in the first 30 minutes) were dynamiting the chances of Argentina, which saw its rival stretch its lead to 14 points. However, a triple by Vildoza and a three-point play by Nicolás Brussino made it possible to close the gap (61-53).
Without game and without penetration possibilities, Argentina bet in the last quarter on the outside shot, with a low effectiveness beyond some success of Scola.
The difference was stretching and increasing concern.
"Let's be smart, the best third qualifies," Hernández asked his players at 4.43 from the end, when the deficit was 14 units.
Campazzo returned to the court, but his return was short-lived because Ricky Rubio's fifth foul took him out of the game for good.
A couple of appearances by Nicolás Brussino lit a dim light of hope, but Rubio took it upon himself to extinguish it and definitively lead his team to victory.
Ricky Rubio was a headache for the Argentine defense: he added 26 points.
(Photo: Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
The Minnesota Timberwolves guard was Spain's top scorer, with 26 (he also had 5 rebounds and 4 assists), while Laprovíttola was the top scorer of the match, with 27.
“It is always a great difficulty to play with them because they know how to play us.
They have a trade and a physical power that complicates us.
They don't let us run, they make us play five against five.
And when we begin to lose legs, we begin to lose clarity, "Sergio Hernández analyzed after the defeat.
The coach maintained that his team had not played well in their first two games, but attributed those shortcomings to the level of their opponents.
"The things that go wrong are because of the rival.
Both Slovenia and Spain made us play badly.
One of us scored 118 points and the other defended us well.
Spain is the world champion and plays like the world champion ”, he explained.
Luis Scola and Pau Gasol, two 41-year-old veterans, greet each other after the duel between Argentina and Spain in Saitama.
(Photo: Aris MESSINIS / AFP)
For his part, Scola considered that the team had played "much better" than in the debut, but questioned the attitude of his teammates.
“We are having some bad habits.
We are complaining too much and it seems to me that we don't have that much talent to do that.
There is a way of going on the court that we cannot lose ”, he claimed.
Anyway, the captain evaluated that if Argentina maintains the performance exhibited against Spain, it will have a chance to advance to the next instance.
To do this, he will have to beat Japan on Sunday and hope that the difference in points will allow him to be one of the two best third places in the three zones.
In the other group C match, Slovenia defeated the Japanese team 116-81 with 25 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists from Luka Doncic.
The Balkans lead the area and on Sunday at 5:20 they will settle the first place with Spain.
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