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A chance for the Turks to improve the impression

Turkey had an away match in Spain on Tuesday,and got the toughest defeat in the preparation. The WC hosts celebrated by +22 while dominating defense

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Turkey will play the first home match in the preparation period today. They'll host Spain who defeated them convincingly on Tuesday. It was the third check for the Turks, and the third defeat. They looked pale offensively. Spain started the match with 7-0 advantage, had +11 in the first period, but won that period by only 6. Things came to their place in the second period and they got 15 points advantage. They kept up the double-digit difference easily in the rest of the match, it actually went over 20 in the last period.

Turkey showed great weakness in the two pointer shots (12/40, 30%), and they had 33.3% effect for the three pointers. They had seven turnovers more, and only one stolen in comparison with eight for the Spaniards. Arslan surprisingly showed up in Turkey's lineup, but didn't bring much success. He had no assists, and had only 3 points (1/6 shots). Preldzic is the only one who played over 20 minutes. He scored 12 points with 5/7 field goal.

Asik's 11 points and 6 rebounds can also be pointed out. Everyone else had a bad night. The Turks scored 55 points, and had huge problems in game realization and creating open shots in the third preparation match, which resulted with constantly forcing the back shot because they had a tough job against the Spanish centers in the paint.

- First of all, we have to accept the fact that Spain are the best team in the world in many segments. They're the biggest favorites for the WC gold in my opinion... We started the match badly. Their centers Marc Gasol and Ibaka didn't give us space and had five blocks. We couldn't score from the back or the front - coach Ergin Ataman said, and added that he definitely needs Enes Kanter for a better result. He's an NBA player recovering from an injury and should join them this weekend.

- There are no problems in our team. The atmosphere is positive. I can't say we'll win today, but we're playing at home and should use that. Besides, we have to improve offensive game - Ataman concluded.

The Spaniards managed to get third win in three matches. Their best defensive performance was against Turkey. They said they'll play tougher against Turkey, and they did. Their field goal was about 40%, and the improvement in the defense was obvious. Navarro finally showed his real face (15 points), but the centers dominated once again. Marc Gasol had 4 blocks, 14 points and 8 rebounds, and Pau added 9 points and 8 rebounds with the bad 3/10 field goal. Reyes had 11 points. Diez played instead of Abrines, but got less than two minutes.

It was a match that clearly showed Spain can play all 40 minutes on the same level because of their width when it comes to defensive intensity and aggressiveness. If Rudy Fernandez, Calderon, even Llull helped a bit more, the difference would probably have been even bigger.

- It was our most complete match in the preparations. We were on a high level defensively. Our goal is to improve our game with each match. We played most of the match in high intensity... The match in Istanbul will definitely be harder than when we're playing at home - coach Juan Antonio Orenga said.