Reigning Champions Spain Dispose Of Brazil To Reach The Basketball World Cup Round Of 16

THE reigning world champions Spain are through to the last 16 of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 after playing only two matches.

Spain dominates the second half and clinches their spot in the next round. ✅#FIBAWC x #WinForEspana 🇪🇸

— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) August 28, 2023

This year’s tournament is being jointly hosted by the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia, and runs from August 25 to September 10.

Up against Brazil this Monday, August 28, the Group G game in Jakarta’s Indonesia Arena was a pretty evenly matched contest for the first quarter.

The Spanish team gained momentum as the game developed and they eventually disposed of their South American opponents by an impressive scoreline of 78-96.

Juan Núñez was the man of the match for Spain, putting in a very complete performance. The teenage guard totally orchestrated Spain’s offence, handing out 5 assists to go along with 13 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals.

With Ricky Rubio, Spain’s MVP from the 2109 tournament not travelling with the squad, there had been some element of concern over the guard, but this was quickly dispelled today. Santi Aldama, with 15 points, finished as the top scorer of the match.

1st quarter

The first quarter of the match was evenly balanced with neither side able to open up any distance on the scoreboard. After the opening 10 minutes, Spain went into the break with a slender 22-21 lead. However, if they had only capitalised on some of the free kicks, it could have been a different story.

2nd quarter

Spain upped their game in the second 12-minute period, going into the break with a comfortable lead of 42-50. Putting an extra 29 points on the board, La Roja powered through the second quarter. Diaz and Rudy excelled with just one missed three-pointer in this period.

3rd quarter

Brazil pushed in this quarter as the Spanish appeared to go to sleep a little bit, only adding 14 points to their total. Their lead was cut back by the Brazilians who went in at the third break just five points adrift at 59-64.

4th quarter

There was nothing that Brazil could have done in this final quarter to prevent Spain from winning. Sergio Scariolo’s side put seven more points on the scoreboard in the first seven minutes. An alley-oop between Rudy and Garuba almost smashed the basket with the Spanish racking up 32 points to power ahead to victory.

On Wednesday 30, Spain will meet Iran in the final group game, hoping to notch their eleventh consecutive victory in a world championship tournament.

Speaking after the match, Sergio Scariolo said: ‘Overall, I think we played a good game. I don’t think the final score reflected how tough this game was. They were a good team, physical with talent’.

‘We had a great impression of how they were playing so we were more activated. We had some slumps throughout the game, but overall, I feel we were quite fast in reacting to those grey moments, especially defensively’, he added.

Juan Nunez commented: ‘I think it was important how we started in the second half. We rebounded better and were more physical. We ran more, and that gave us more improved play’.