Spain vs Brazil Score: Shocking Loss Proves Spaniards Are Doomed to Failure
After entering the 2012 Olympics as the most highly regarded men's basketball team not from the USA, Spain is crumbling, and they are going to leave London without a medal.
Their 88-82 loss to Brazil on Monday, in the final game of group play, was just the progression of increasingly poor performances.
They began their play in these Olympic Games with a 97-81 win over China, followed by a 82-70 win over Australia.
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Things were flowing along as expected for the Spaniards at that point, but then came a completely uninspired 79-78 win over Great Britain. They followed up that clunker with another as they posted a 74-77 loss to Russia, which brought us to their loss against Brazil.
These performances are not a fluke, or a matter of Spain looking past their opponents and towards elimination play. They are a result of a severe weakness in Spain. They can't stop perimeter players.
Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez are trying to hold down the perimeter for their Spanish team. Neither are known for their great defense, and they are being exploited here.
Great Britain's Luol Deng, who has been playing guard for Great Britain, had 26 points against Spain. Russia's shooting guard Vitaly Fridzon went for 24 points, and Brazil's guard Leandro Barbosa added 23 points in this most recent game.
Teams are breaking down the Spaniards and getting to the lane for easy buckets, or pulling the Gasol brothers out of position to create chances for their teammates.
Spain's first elimination game comes against France, and they have a certain point guard named Tony Parker who knows a thing or two about breaking down a defense. This right there gives France an excellent shot of pulling off the upset, but even if Spain prevails, they are only going to be facing tougher teams.
In order to win a medal, Spain will have to win their first game, and then one of their next two. The way this team is going, there is no way they are going to win two out of three.
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