Spain did their homework and went undefeated to the second phase of the World Cup after defeating Iran at the Jakarta Indonesia Arena. However, the wide victory by 20 points (65-85) did not reflect the gray feelings that the national team had, too imprecise in attack and lacking concentration in defense. From the bench, he looked at the irregular performance of his teammates Rudy Fernández, who despite not playing for a minute equaled Juan Carlos Navarro as the player with the most caps for the team (253 caps, 237 games played). Scariolo’s men, already with their veteran captain on the roster, will have to recover the best version, the one shown against Brazil, that of a rocky team, supportive and with tactical discipline as arguments, to seek a place in the quarterfinals against Latvia next Friday ( 11:45).
Relaxation invaded a chaotic Spanish team in the early stages, just the opposite of what identifies the family, always competitive. The Persians took advantage of the situation to rejoice on the scoreboard, nine up after a steal from Kazemi (15-6). The Spanish reaction came before the end of the first quarter (17-16).
The Asians kept up their fight against the world champion, with equal scores, until halfway through the second period, when two three-pointers, one from Llull and the other from Abrines, gave the Spanish the first advantages. Only the vision of the veteran Haddadi, in his last tournament with the national team, kept the Iranians in the match. The 38-year-old center found with two assists the defensive weaknesses of a Spanish team that left with half a job done at halftime (34-43) thanks to the success of the Hernangómez brothers, authors of the last ten points of the quarter.
Despite the comfortable advantage and the rival’s inferiority, Spain had to continue with the work overalls to get rid of the sticky Iran, also led in the third quarter by Haddadi. The family, stuck again as at the beginning of the duel, did not flow in attack, only relieved by some flashes from Aldama and a three-pointer on Brizuela’s buzzer that left victory one step away from the final stake (52-64).
The sensations did not improve for the Spaniards in a last quarter where the losses, the lack of forcefulness in defense and the bad decisions in attack continued to increase. Only Juancho Hernangómez, top scorer of the match with 21 points, briefly enjoyed chaining baskets against a Persian team that only let go with two minutes to go.
Iran (17 17 18 13): Behnam Yakhchali (12), Piter Girgoorian (6), Arsalan Kazemi (2), Mohammad Amini (19), Hasan Aliakbari (2) -equipo inicial- Jalal Agha Miri (5), Matin Aghajanpour (0), Hamed Ehaddadi (7), Sajjad Mashayekhi (2), Meisam Mirzaei (3), Navid Razeifar (3), Mohammadsina Vahedi(4).
Spain (16 27 21 21): Willy Hernangómez (16), Álex Abrines (6), Juan Núñez (5), Juancho Hernangómez (21), Joel Parra (3) -initial team- Rudy Fernández (0), Sergio Llull ( 5), Víctor Claver (5), Santi Aldama (11), Darío Brizuela (3), Alberto Díaz (4), Usman Garuba (6).
Referees: Julio Anaya (Panama), Juan Fernández (Argentina) and Johnny Batista (Puerto Rico).
Incidents: match corresponding to the third day of Group G of the 2023 Basketball World Cup, played at the Indonesia Arena in Jakarta (Indonesia).
