Spain disarms Serbia and strengthens world title candidacy

Wuhan – Spain confirmed his awakening in the World Cup in China in a big way, with a prestigious triumph against the almighty Serbia, which he disarmed in an exhibition that reinforces his medal candidacy and allows to park the doubts of the start of the championship, sending He passed a serious warning to his rivals (81-69).

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Again the defense was key to undressing a team that counted their performances by beatings and that seemed unapproachable. Ricky Rubio returned to be the axis of a group that worked perfectly and was able to end the unbeatable Balkan. Now, his opponent in quarters will be Poland.

Spain initially surprised Pierre Oriola unleashed in attack. His were the first six points of a team that, finally, started up concentrated from the first play, wanting to plant battle and without fear of the Serbian army, which he tried to keep at bay with the strong defense that such good results He gave Italy.

Sasha Djordjevic reacted quickly, putting Nikola Jokic on the track instead of Stefan Bircevic, when they only took two and a half minutes. The equality was maximum and the basketball of high level, with the only mole on the part of Spain of the little outside success in that phase of the match.

The first Balkan stretch arrived soon, with a 9-0 that made it clear that they were going to punish every mistake of their opponent. The attack got stuck and Sergio Scariolo called his team a chapter. The Serbs began to grease their roller with Bogdan Bogdanovic as director of operations.

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From his hand they took the first quarter by 20-13 to take advantage of the small details and take advantage of the fact that, one more day, Spain was not right from the outside. With a single triple scored of seven attempts (14%), the battle seemed to begin to unbalance.

Willy ate

Boban Marjanovic with a mate plus additional free kick that gave strength to the team and Rudy followed with a triplazo. Claver culminated a counterattack and, with a 9-1 against when only a little more than a minute of the second act had been played, Djordjevic stopped the match when he saw himself with the water around his neck and a single point above.

Spain embroidered it again in defense and had another face in attack. A triple of Llull extended the party and began to show that Serbia was bearable, because he knew how to generate, for the first time in the World Cup, doubts in his game (26-22, min 13)

The current world runners, Olympians and Europeans did not know how to attack the spider web woven by Scariolo. With only five points embedded in as many minutes, Spain was able to maintain its dominance, playing from you to one of the gold favorites.

Two distant ricky blows continued to open the gap, which for the first time reached ten points. Llull, with his second triple, closed a first exquisite part in which the best version of Scariolo's was seen (45-37, min 20).

After having achieved a 32-17 in the previous ten minutes, in which he finally reconciled with the triple -summing half a dozen-, it was necessary to finish off the task in the resumption and the tendencies in both selections seemed to be confirmed.

The defense was still manual and those of Scariolo became 21 above (63-42, min 26). The majority Serbian fans did not leave their astonishment and, in the middle of the Spanish recital, Jokic, had already been disqualified after repeated protests, the result of despair.

The minutes passed and the Balkans, not accustomed to going under, were still unable to react. However, their quality allowed them to approach in the absence of the final ten minutes, to which Spain arrived with an income that would have signed any of the World Cup selections (67-56, min 30).

When it seemed that Serbia was on top, Llull struck again from the perimeter with a triple that was worth gold and gave air to the selection, although nothing was decided, with the Serbs ten down and six and a half minutes ahead.

Barely, Spain knew how to maintain the type, responding to each blow until sealing a victory that rearms its morale, serves as a warning for future adversaries and confirms the growth of a team that, apparently this Sunday, is a serious candidate for a medal in Beijing On Tuesday, the surprising Polish team in Shanghai awaits.

– Data sheet:

81 – Spain (13 + 32 + 22 + 14): Ricky Rubio (19), Rudy Fernández (7), Juancho Hernangómez (3), Pierre Oriola (6) and

Marc Gasol (11) – initial five -, Pau Ribas (5), Víctor Claver (14), Willy Hernangómez (7) and Sergio Llull (9).

69 – Serbia (20 + 17 + 19 + 13): Jovic (4), Lucic (8), Bircevic (3), Bogdanovic (26), and Milutinov (7) – titular quintet -, Simonovic (-) Bjelica (3), Raduljica (7), Jokic (6), Micic (5), Guduric (-) and Marjanovic (-).

Referees: Cristiano Maranho (BRA), Steven Anderson (USA) and Omar Bermúdez Mariscal (MEX). They eliminated Stefan Jovic and disqualified Nikola Jokic.

Incidents: Last match of the second round in Group J played at the Wuhan Sports Center before about 8,000 spectators.