The warning before the basketball Pre-Olympic: “This is not the Spain we had before”
Yeray Vergara
July 1, 2024

Without Gasol, Calderon, Navarro or Felipe Reyes, Spain beat the Dominican Republic in Alicante in their last game before the pre-Olympic in Valencia, which starts this week.

It was not a brilliant victory but Spain showed that little by little they are getting into rhythm and they raised the level, especially in defense. With Lorenzo Brown in very good shape, who was the best of “La Familia”.

The equality in the first half was undone in the second, with the debut of De Larrea. The entrance of Diaz, Rudy Fernandez and Garuba was key for Scariolo‘s team to take the game.

With some three-pointers by Brizuela and Diaz, the difference in points was getting bigger and it was possible to reach the end of the fourth quarter with a big income so that “The Family” did not suffer at the end of the game.

At halftime there was a tribute to the Spanish national team that won the silver medal at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 84. That team composed by Nacho Solozábal, Juanma Iturriaga, Fernando Romay, Fernando Martín or Andrés Jimenez stepped on the court of the Pedro Ferrandiz in Alicante to be honored after winning the silver medal against the United States team of Michael Jordan.

Sergio Scariolo spoke later at the press conference and commented on his feelings about the game. Spain’s coach warned that the pre-Olympic is going to be tough and that everyone has to work hard from now on in order to get through it, “we no longer have this Spain that could be reserved, that time is over” declared the coach of “La Familia”.

THE PRE OLYMPIC, THE LAST TICKET TO PARIS

The pre-Olympic is a crucial date for all the teams that want to be in Paris. This tournament before the Olympic Games awards the last four places, one per group, in each group there are six teams and only the champion will have the ticket to Paris.

The pre-Olympic will be played in Spain, Latvia, Greece and Puerto Rico from July 2 to 7. In each tournament, two groups of three teams will play each other in a three-round group format. The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals, which are played in elimination matches, just like the final.

The groups are Spain, Lebanon, Angola, Finland, Poland and Bahamas. Latvia, Georgia, Philippines, Brazil, Cameroon and Montenegro. Greece, Egypt, Dominican Republic, Slovenia, Croatia, New Zealand. Puerto Rico, Italy, Bahrain, Mexico, Ivory Coast and Lithuania.

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