Is Spain vs. Team USA Becoming Best International Sporting Rivalry?
The 2014 FIBA World Cup isn't over yet, but all indications are that the United States and Spain are destined to clash in the Sept. 14 finals.
The two clubs were favorites to do just that even before group play kicked off. After seeing them officially in action, little has changed. If there's any team with enough NBA talent to potentially rival Team USA, it's Spain—thanks primarily to a front line that boasts brothers Pau and Marc Gasol, along with Oklahoma City Thunder power forward Serge Ibaka.
Add guards Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez to the mix and you have a veteran squad replete with talent that's been cultivated at the NBA level.
That's a dangerous combination against any competition—even the vaunted Team USA.
Spain came up a close second to the United States in both the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, taking home silver medals while the Americans claimed gold. The 2012 meeting in London was an especially tight contest, with Team USA leading by just one point after three quarters and eventually winning by seven points.
The Spanish team actually managed to claim a gold medal at the 2006 FIBA World Cup, but the United States had already been ousted in the semifinals by Greece. The U.S. got its revenge four years later, taking gold in 2010.
By now, global basketball revolves around the two teams.
The once formidable Argentinians are aging, and Brazil has never quite lived up to its potential. France has a strong NBA contingent of its own, but not to the same degree as Spain—especially without point guard Tony Parker this summer.
Spain may be an underdog going into any meeting with the United States, but it's not by much.
While Team USA has superior talent and athleticism, Spain has the superior chemistry—and plenty of talent in its own right.
Ukraine coach Mike Fratello recently told The Associated Press (via USA Today):
"Spain is a very, very good team. They're very good. They're big, they've played together for so long, the majority of the team, and they do things that you have to do. They pass well, they're skilled. To play the U.S. you have to be skilled, otherwise you have too many turnovers from not being able to pass and catch. Small things. They don't do that.
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For the moment, the United States doesn't sound especially worried.
Team USA forward Kenneth Faried even said, "I don't pay attention to Spain."
That may change soon enough.
With the two sides poised to meet in the finals (barring any spectacular upsets), Faried and Co. will need to study some tape and take the game seriously. Spain certainly will.
And with basketball truly emerging as a global sport, plenty will be paying attention to what's becoming one of the game's most promising rivalries.
As Dime Magazine put it back in 2010, "All things considered, Spain vs. Team USA might be the most entertaining basketball rivalry on the planet right now. ... As far as producing consistently close results and quality basketball with emotions on high, USA/Spain is up there with any rivalry out there currently."
But the budding rivalry still has a ways to go when compared with other global grudge matches.
Some of those grudges occur against the backdrop of legitimate geopolitical intrigue. When India and Pakistan aren't stockpiling nuclear weapons and fighting over Kashmir, the two neighbors settle their differences on the cricket field—and loads of people pay attention.
According to Forbes' Kenneth Rapoza, "a record-breaking 67.6 million of those people watched the four-hour long [2011 Cricket World Cup] final."
By comparison, Rapoza notes that just 15.5 million tuned in for the 2010 MLB World Series.
Argentina and Brazil have long dominated soccer internationally, each claiming multiple World Cup championships and vying for status as Latin America's very best. Eastern Europe features a similar soccer balance of power between Russia and Poland. And Western European soccer is all about England and Scotland.
Less heralded sports include plenty of other international rivalries—from the United States and Canada's bout for North American hockey supremacy to China and Japan's heated claims to gymnastic dominance.
Without a political subplot or larger-than-life fan following, the basketball stakes for Team USA and Spain may seem somewhat mundane when compared to the diehard dramas one finds upon a little digging.
But that could change in time, and another closely contested game between the two hoops juggernauts would go a long way in cementing their emergent rivalry.
Few sports can offer the entertainment value of a tight basketball game. The pace, athleticism, scoring volume and theatrics make for a virtually unmatched experience. While the United States doesn't have to face many close calls in international play, Spain is a different story.
It has a legitimate chance, and it proved as much in 2012 against a team that included LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony.
Against a less star-studded 2014 iteration?
Things could get interesting.
Bleacher Report's Zach Buckley recently argued: "A potential championship meeting between the two FIBA heavyweights feels more certain by the second, and alarms could be sounding on USA's side based on what has transpired."
Good as Faried and Anthony Davis have been for the Americans, the Gasols and Ibaka will pose problems.
Faried doesn't have the size to defend against those kind of bigs, but—as Sports Illustrated's Rob Mahoney explains—"any move toward a bigger lineup (say, featuring Anthony Davis alongside one of DeMarcus Cousins, Andre Drummond or Mason Plumlee) could take away from the speed and energy that characteristically fuels USA Basketball's full-court attack."
Between its size and collective experience, Spain has some important advantages against Team USA.
Whether they're significant enough to send the U.S. home with silver medals remains to be seen, but you can count on a finals worth watching—assuming it's the finals we expect.
The world's next great rivalry would accept nothing less.
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