betprepare.com

Furia won their toughest test +18

The hosting team of the Badalona tournament were losing 55-52 against Croatia in the third period, and then stormed past Repeša's team with a 22-2 series, demolishing them 74-57. Ukraine toyed with the Mexicans

London2012.com

The final match of the four nations tournament in Badalona will give us hosting Spain, who beat Croatia 82-64, and Ukraine, who easily defeated Mexico (73-55).

The +18 win for Spain is rather deceptive having in mind what we saw in Joventut arena yesterday, once the home of Ricky Rubio and Rudy Fernandez. Croatia had a 55-52 lead at the end of the third period and held the top favorites of the WC in the palm of their hand, and not only intermittently, but from the very start. Orenga had nobody to defend against Bogdanović. Rudy looked ridiculous next to the best Croatian player (14 points in the first half), Bogdanović did whatever he wanted, scoring three pointers and behind the back penetrations. The Spanish team scored 38 points in the first part, mostly muscling in the points, and their offense was torture especially until Ibaka came in, opening up space with a few three pointers and giving the Gasol brothers some room in the pain.

At 55-52 Jasmin Repeša made some strange changes, played zone defense, for the first time in the preparatory period, put together a setup with Lafayette, Babić, Šarić and Hezonja, Croatia ran out of options on both ends of the court, and by the end of the third quarter, in little under 2 minutes, the score was 65-57 for Spain. Later on the series extended to 22-2 (74:57), and the match was over. The players who turned the match around in those moments were Pau Gasol (18+7) and Navarro (14 pts, 9/10 free throws), Marc Gasol added another 11+7, the great Ibaka added 13+11 in just 24 minutes on court.

It should also be noted that refereeing favored the hosts, as a 42-9 free throw ratio sounds a bit too much, even with the dominance of the Gasol brothers, whom can hardly be guarded without a foul.

-Croatia have talent and good shooters. We had some issues in the first part, when the match was more even. We started the second part with more intensity, and they could not keep up their level of the game. We looked for more options in the paint, and did things a bit better- said Pau Gasol, who has no doubt about what Spain should focus on.

- We have huge potential in the inner lineup, which allows us to create easy shots for the perimeter players. We should stick to the in-out philosophy.

Felipe Reyes is the only player that did not play against Croatia, Diez played 71 second, Calderon had 7 minutes. We can expect Orenga to give them more time today, especially when it comes to Calderon and Reyes.

Yesterday his players shot a miserable 22% for three points (5/23), and a modest 47% for two. Ukraine are not on the same level as Croatia, and things should look better today.

Ukraine had no problems whatsoever with Mexico, entering the match strong and getting a +15 lead by the end of the first quarter (22-7). This lead just grew, with minor ups and downs, up to 45-24 at halftime, and selector Fratello's team just maintained it in the second half.

The first name amongst the Ukraine team was Jeter (17 points, 5 assists), while Zaytsev also left a good impression (12 points, 5 rebounds). They had a good shooting night for three points, collectively. At one time it stayed at 12/18, but they lost focus and spoiled that by the end, reaching 14/28.

It's important to note that the 'drop' in the second part was due to numerous substitutes. Fratello gave a chance to each of his players in the end, and nobody played more than 23 minutes (Jeter), everyone else was on the court under 20 minutes.

The injury of their important shooter Gladyr is obviously a thing of the past as he played for 17 minutes, and the same goes for Pustovi, who also played a few minutes.

A problem for Fratello are the 20 turnovers of his team. If the same happens today, Spain will certainly punish that.