Spain goes home with its tail between its legs

BarcelonaSpain closed out the worst Eurobasketball tournament in history with a defeat to Greece that resulted in their elimination (86-90). The Spanish team failed to reach the round of 16 and, therefore, lost out on a chance to retain their title. After winning four of the last six tournaments, the family He went home with his tail between his legs.

The setback was a major one, resulting in Spain's worst finish in the 67 international championships in which it has participated. It had never fallen below fifteenth place, a record dating back to the Eurobasket held in Turkey in 1959. The Spanish team, the reigning champion, had finished among the eight best European teams since 1977. Furthermore, it had only reached the semifinals in 1997. and Cyprus) in six games. Sergio Scariolo, the coach of the most successful Spanish team in history, will arrive at Real Madrid with a major disappointment, but the absences forced him to compete with a very young team in which five players were making their championship debut. The Italian coach severely limited the playing time of the Hernangómez brothers and, on the contrary, emphasized the role of the younger players, who responded with great personality. Jaime Pradilla, Mario Saint-Supery, and Sergio de Larrea competed with pride.

Bosnia's victory over Georgia forced Spain to beat Greece, but the match didn't start well. Their opponents took advantage of their accuracy from the 6.75-meter line (making seven of their first eight three-point attempts) to open a significant gap in the scoreboard (14-30). The emergence of Xabi López Aroestegui served to narrow the gap, but the defense continued to concede too many points (35-50).

Despite being without Barça player Darío Brizuela due to injury, the Spanish team opened the third quarter with a 9-0 run (44-50). Jaime Pradilla, who faced Giannis Antetokounmpo, put in a very strong performance, but the Greek team didn't let up and reached the final 10 minutes with a five-point lead (63-68).

A futile reaction

The free-throw percentages were a burden. Just when all the obituaries had been written, Spain tied the game with eight minutes left (71-71). Scariolo's team even took the lead (82-81), but Greece's experience was decisive in the closing stages. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kostas Sloukas made the difference. Juancho Hernangómez missed three free throws in a row with 13.4 seconds left. The final whistle.