Spain is like a kid with only one parent

Brazil started pretty well. I think, Russia established this game and built a very well-deserved lead toward the end of the third quarter. It was amazing to watch a comeback that was made by Larry Taylor, small and almost unknown point guard of the Brazilian team, in the fourth quarter. Brazilians also took advantage of the fact, that – I do not know for which reason – but Alexei Shved looked tired in the beginning of the fourth quarter. That is the reason he made so many mistakes. Basically it forced David Blatt to keep him on the bench.

But when he came back afterwards he was certainly outstanding, because he made all the key plays for Russia to win the game. Obviously Fridzon’s three-point shot was the highlight of the game, but without Alexei Russia would not have a chance to come back and eventually win the game as they did. It was a good performance from the mental point of view for Russia because they never gave up, but also alarm bells started to ring because they could not play their typical game for some stretches. I would not say that it was a below-average game from them because you cannot play every game so well like they’d played two previous games. And for sure they found strength and toughness to come back and win the game. I think all of them need to step up in the next games and to be a more consistent group for 40 minutes, but you know that is something to work on and hopefully we will see it in the upcoming games.

Anyway now they have three wins and they will play Spain for the first place. I think they will surely have a chance against Spain especially if Navarro continues to be out. For some part of the game between Spain and Great Britain there was certainly some underestimation from Spain. They had a 10-point lead and relaxed a bit. But for sure they are missing Navarro a lot. Navarro has been historically their leader together with Pau Gasol. And I think Spain is now like a kid who has either father or mother, only one parent. They really need Navarro back as soon as possible to be as competitive as they want to be.

On Sky TV we broadcast Russia’s game and then the game between the US and Nigeria. It was not easy as there was not much to say about basketball because the competition which was provided by Nigeria was not a perfect one. But a lot of records were set by the US, and there were a lot of good plays, so I think it was still fun to watch for most people.