Spain has made life difficult in the World Cup after losing to an irreducible Latvia. A fatal last quarter for Scariolo’s men doomed them to defeat. The Spaniards came to win by twelve, but in the final period the scoring blind was lowered (11-27 partial) and Latvia unleashed with Davis Bertans, Zoriks and Rodions Kurucs as the main stilettos. With this setback, Spain will have to beat the fearsome Canada this Sunday if they want to have a chance of being in the quarterfinals.
The match was a battle of attrition, a game of chess in which Spain was handcuffed, except in the third quarter where it seemed to take the lead. But Scariolo’s men were stuck in favor of work and their first defeat in the championship came.
Scariolo had already warned him in the previous one. “Latvia is a rival that can complicate our lives because of their atypical play,” said the Spain coach. The Brescia coach was right. Latvia, the main culprit for the elimination of France, stood on the parquet with things clear.
It was about making Spain’s game difficult, not letting Scariolo’s team run and blocking the game as much as possible. In addition, to the surprise of the Spaniards, he entered the game balancing his basketball more between the zone and the perimeter, without arming as often as in the other games from the line of three.
If a good level of intensity is added to that, what happened is that Spain did not feel comfortable at all. Yes, Willy Hernangómez, superior in the paint, was fed with balls. But in the rest of the manual nothing went in attack as planned. In the other ring, ex-Barcelona player Roland Smits overwhelmed a clueless Víctor Claver from the beginning and the game moved dog-faced.
Few transitions, no triples in the first quarter (something very rare in modern basketball), many fouls and a low score (16-17 for Latvia).
Scariolo was looking for solutions with Garuba, Aldama, the director Juan Núñez or Rudy Fernández, who with 254 games surpassed Juan Carlos Navarro as the Spaniard with the most caps.
But there was no way to attack fluently and Latvia, with their first two triples (Davis Bertans and Zagars) starred in a first pull (18-25). Scariolo stopped the game, with a dead time that was repairing.
His team’s response, with Llull and Brizuela more aggressive, was a 9-0 run with the Hernangómez brothers as offensive bulwarks. At least Spain had stopped the bleeding. A triple from Brizuela on the brink of halftime left the score at 32-29 for the Spaniards.
With seven players with experience in the ACB, Latvia returned to the court ready to continue blocking the game, but Spain was much more accurate in moving the ball and diversified its attacks. Not only Willy Hernangómez percussed, but the points were pooled. Brizuela, Claver, Alberto Díaz and Rudy Fernández were on target from three-pointers and a 14-0 run shot Spain (54-42) with a Garuba that was also on fire.
The outlook had cleared up enormously for the Spaniards, but the duel was by no means resolved. Grazulis, Davis Bertans and Zoriks commanded the Baltic reaction. Two consecutive triples from the latter put the tie (61-61). Back to start with five minutes to go. Five minutes in which Latvia was better. Spain will have to row a lot.
