Great Britain are still searching for their first win of the summer after falling 78-74 to Spain in Valladolid on Monday night.
Chris Finch kept things in perspective despite the loss:
“Spain are a world class team and we played well in front of a large, loud Spanish crowd. Foul trouble really hurt us but we were able to stay close and then Pops and Joel had more of an impact in the second half.
“We need to make more plays down the stretch to win against teams of this calibre. From day one we planned to play the very best teams in our preparation period. Every team we have played so far is qualified for the Olympics. This will serve us well over the next month.”
Pau Gasol led Spain with a 16 point, 11 rebound double-double, whilst his brother Marc finished with 16 as well. Joel Freeland led GB with 15 points on 6/8 shooting, Mike Lenzly had 13, whilst Luol Deng added 12. Pop Mensah-Bonsu joined them as the only other player in double figures with 11 points and 8 rebounds.
The loss meant GB are 0-7 in their warm-up games so far, and will now look to pick up their first win at home next weekend against Portugal in Sheffield.
Did you catch the game? Thoughts?
Image Credit: Feb.es
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
A stronger performance – remember euro 2008, this seemed like a regular team competing at this level rather than a fluke perforrmance.
Improved performance to keep the score close against one of the best teams in the world. Well done, lads!
Thought it was a more balanced team performance and we had more defensive intensity. 4 point loss to the world no 2 on their own court is none too shoddy.
very good effort by GB, played really well looked world class,
As the Spanish press surmised, the game that was a “friendly” and used, certainly by Spain, as a practise run through.
Would the result have been any different given it was an Olympic game? Hopefully GB would win.