After a very exciting EuroBasket 2022, the Spanish National Basketball team successfully clinched their fourth Eurobasket title by defeating France 88-76.
Hernangomez brothers produced an outstanding output to help Spain clinched their fourth gold of the Eurobasket. Toronto Raptors Forward Juancho Hernangomez led Spain with 27 points with seven three pointers made. While Willy Hernangomez recorded 14 points and eight rebounds as he also crowned the MVP of the tournament. The Naturalized Spanish player Lorenzo Brown also recorded an impressive double-double performance with 14 points and 11 assists. Spain held Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert to just six points, six rebounds, and 1 assist. While the New York Knicks guard Evan Fournier scored 23 points for France.
The Road to Championship Recap
Spain surpassed all doubts as they dominated the entire Eurobasket 2022 finishing with 8-1 record, losing only to Belgium in the Group stage. The round of 16 matchup against the mighty Lithuania put them into an early tough phase of their quest to be the best basketball team in this edition of EuroBasket. After defeating the crowd-favorite Lietuvas in the round of 16, Spain faced Finland in the quarterfinals outing where they also had a hard fought matchup against Lauri Markannen-led Finnish team. Spain successfully defeated Finland with the score of 100-90 to book a semi-final ticket against the host Germany who ousted Giannis Antetokoumnpo and Greece in the quarterfinals. The semi-final clash between the host Germany and Spain is very intense and entertaining to watch as both teams are having back and forth output on both offensive and defensive ends. The semi-final game ended with a 96-91 scoreline in favor of Spain led by Lorenzo Brown’s 29 points and 5 assists.
Spain reached their ninth finals appearance and secured their fourteenth medal finish in the Eurobasket and once again will book a most anticipated and exciting match against their European rival in France. This is France and Spain’s second Eurobasket finals meetup, the first was wayback in 2011 in which Spain also dominated the final with 98-85 score led by Pau Gasol and Carlos Navarro. This time, both teams had relatively new rosters to parade. Spain had Hernangomez brothers, Naturalized guard Lorenzo Brown, and Usman Garuba. While France had three time NBA DPOY Rudy Gobert, Evan Fournier, and the young stud Theo Maledon.
The first half was easily dominated by the Spanish squad – they abused France’s vulnerability on mismatches and lack of outside and inside perimeter defenders causing Juancho hernangomez to tally six threes the whole game. It is also worth noting that Spain showed more tenacity and energy throughout the match by giving more efforts on defense and stopping Rudy Gobert’s inside presence. However, Evan Fournier did not give up and continued to make a positive impact and energy for his squad to have a very convincing comeback in the third and final quarter of the championship match. Fournier’s effort was not enough to carry his national squad against the Spanish team. Lorenzo continued his magical passing ability and to provide collective shooting opportunities for his teammates and ended the game with the score of 88-76 against the stacked team France.
Spain’s fourth Eurobasket title
Spain’s fourth Eurobasket title is the least expected one according to Spanish National head coach Sergio Scariolo. He emphasizes the lack of star players’ availability from the NBA and Euroleague. THey also pointed out the impact of the window type of world cup qualification phases in FIBA. It creates more vulnerability to players’ commitment to the national team and to the club team. He said that there should be an adjustment on both ends to make it well-aligned to basketball clubs’ schedules of games and to the FIBA. Without his main players presence that participated in the Eurobasket 2017 and won bronze, he created a pool of players from U20, B-team, and other players outside Euroleague and NBA to participate in the national team in preparation for fourth window of FIBA World Cup Qualifiers and Euerobasket 2022.
After they defeated Germany in the semi-finals, the Italian coach said that the win against powerhouse Germany and reaching the Gold medal match is the most satisfying yet the least expected result for his squad that misses out key players like Ricky Rubio, Sergio Lull, Sergio Rodriguez, and the Gasol brothers. Facing the gigantic France team was the final test on how far his squad will finish in the tournament. As did not expect, Spain beat France to clinched their fourth Eurobasket title composed mostly of B-team players, young and rising Spanish stars, and three NBA talents. Willy Hernangomez (MVP) and Lorenzo Brown were included in the All-Star Five selection with joining Giannis Antetokoumnpo, Dennis Schroder, and Rudy Gobert.
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