Spain brush aside Serbia, Argentina
thump Poland
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[September 09, 2019]
All four sides had booked their
quarter-final spots with a match to spare and the results mean that
Spain will face Poland and Serbia lock horns with Argentina for
places in the semi-finals.
France play Australia on Monday for top spot in their pool with both
teams already through to the last eight.
Also on Monday, holders the United States meet Brazil and the Czech
Republic play Greece with all fous sides in that group still in
contention to reach the knockout rounds.
Serbia, who won their opening four games by an average margin of 41
points, looked set to continue the streak after racing into a 20-11
lead late in the first quarter.
An energetic Spanish roster then ground Serbia's offence to a halt
and hit a barrage of three-pointers at the other end to carve out a
42-37 advantage at halftime.
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Serbia's Denver Nuggets centre Nikola Jokic was ejected early in the
second half for a double technical foul after loud dissent and Spain
capitalised on his absence as their lead soared to 63-42.
A late Serbian fightback fell short as a smaller but more agile
Spanish team kept collecting offensive rebounds and restricted their
rivals to three successful shots from three-point range from 19
attempts.
"The Spaniards rocked us with their tough defence and ripped our
game plan to shreds," Serbia captain Miroslav Raduljica told the
Balkan nation's RTS television.
"Their scouts did a great job and we couldn't find a way to turn
things around."
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Spain's Juancho Hernangomez and Pierre Oriola celebrate victory with
teammates after the match REUTERS/Jason Lee
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Sacramento Kings forward Nemanja Bjelica added: "It was an
exceptionally poor performance and we need to regroup quickly."
Livewire playmaker Ricky Rubio led Spain with 19 points, forward
Victor Claver added 14 and centre Marc Gasol chipped in with 11,
cancelling out a valiant solo effort by Serbia guard Bogdan
Bogdanovic who had 26 points and 10 rebounds.
The Argentines ripped into Poland with a flurry of fast breaks and
clinical long-range shooting as forward Marcos Delia nailed 10 of
his 12 points in the first quarter.
Their 39-year old forward Luis Scola again rolled back the years as
he finished with a game-high 21 points, while Delia scored 12 and
Nicolas Brussino added 10.
(Writing by Zoran Milosavljevic; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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