Willy Hernangómez lived in paradise. The dream set for a center. Inferior rivals in size, have accurate shots and receive some luxury assists. With this panorama, the new Barcelona player enjoyed himself. The best player of the last Eurobasket started the World Cup with the same skill and a fantastic run of his gave the final pull so that Spain did not have any difficulties against the Ivory Coast in its debut in Jakarta. The current world champion already has the first win in her locker (94-64).
A. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. And up to seven. Willy made seven consecutive baskets for the Spanish team, almost all of them identical. Ball provided with advantage under the ring and inside. Halfway through the second quarter and Scariolo’s team put the direct. From 30-26 to 44-28, which extended to 53-34 at halftime. The Barcelona center finished with 22 points.
Spain did not play a perfect game, especially because of some defensive oversight, but they did not have a rival of excessive level either. Enthusiastic, yes, but also anarchic, and above all, small under the dashboards.
When Spain, in the days of the Gasols, had plenty of talent, it took the early phases of tournaments easy and on more than one occasion had been scared in the form of defeat. The Pau, Marc, Navarro and company went from less to more. They started in flip flops and ended on the podium.
The current Spain, more Stakhanovite, started the tournament with a good staging. A 9-0 to score the line led by Juancho Hernangómez, the aforementioned brother of his Willy and a touch of Parra. The 16-4 already seemed to leave clues as to where things would go but then Spain did not finish accelerating, largely due to the nerves and bad decisions of Santi Aldama, who paid for his debut in the World Cup. Minutiae before the superiority of Spain.
After the break, the Spanish team dedicated themselves to adjusting the point of view from the line of three and accumulating maximum advantages (he managed to win by 32) despite a logical relaxation at the end. At the same time, Juan Núñez was gaining confidence as the helm of the ship. This Monday the second match of the championship for Scariolo’s men, in this case against Brazil (3:30 p.m.).
