ESP/GRE – Spain win to continue recent dominance against Greece

BEIJING (Olympics) - Spain have played Greece in four important games since 2006 and four times the men from Iberia have won.

The latest triumph, an 81-66 victory for Los Chicos De Oro, came on Sunday on the first day of the Olympic men’s basketball competition in Beijing.

The Spanish went on a 13-2 run late in the first half to take a 35-26 lead and stayed in front the rest of the way.

Greece got a Vasilis Spanoulis three-point play right before half-time and trailed 35-29 but Spain, who thrashed the Greeks in the 2006 FIBA World Championship final in Japan, pulled away for a convincing win.

Their biggest run came in the third quarter when they reeled off 13 straight points for a 50-31 lead. Their lead ballooned to 21 points at one stage.

Rudy Fernandez had 16 points to lead the Spanish.

Playing in front of his Portland Trail Blazers boss and USA assistant coach Nate McMillan, who watched the contest from the stands, Fernandez said to FIBA.com: “I didn’t know he was here.”

He then talked about the victory.

“We weren’t able to play our game early on but I think in the third quarter, we stepped up our intensity on defense and got some steals,” he said.

“We started to run and when we run, it’s difficult for a team to stop us.”

Marc Gasol also started instead of his famous NBA star brother Pau and had seven points and four rebounds.

Pau Gasol ended up playing a little more and finished with 11 points and seven boards.

When asked if he could steal beat his younger brother in one-on-one games, Pau Gasol smiled and said: “Of course.”

Greece played Spain twice at last year’s EuroBasket in Madrid, losing in the Qualifying Round but also suffering a narrow defeat in the semi-finals.

No one will be discounting their chances of gold after this setback, though.

Panagiotis Yannakis’ team hurt their chances at the free throw line where they missed 13 of their 24 attempts for an appalling 46%. Spain, meanwhile, were 22 of 25 (88%).

Fernandez warned everyone not to underestimate the Greeks.

“Greece have proved they are one of the strongest teams here,” he said.

“We are happy to have taken this win because it’s the first game. Now we need to rest and focus on China.”

Greece guard Nikos Zisis, who had 10 points but made just one of four at the charity stripe, said: “We had a good start but then hit a dead part of the game where they went on a big run.

“We just have to learn from this defeat and move on.”

Jose Manuel Calderon also had 13 points with every Spanish player scoring except Raul Lopez.

Ricky Rubio, Spain’s 17-year-old whizz-kid from DKV Joventut, like Marc Gasol made his Olympic debut and also scored seven points in just over 13 minutes.

"The only way I can describe this debut is that it is exciting,” he said.

“It's so easy to play with this team because whichever team-mate I pass the ball to scores.”

When asked how it feels to be such a young player on one of the biggest stages in basketball, Rubio said: “It doesn't matter if you are 17 or 27 once you are on the court because the referees and the opponents treat you the same."

Spanoulis scored 15 and Dimitris Diamantidis 14 for Greece, who finished 24 of 54 from the floor overall.

FIBA