Spanish basketball closed its golden era a long time ago, its heroics no longer translate into medals, except in the unexpected Eurobasket of 2022, and now it has to survive no matter what the cost and reach the required minimums. A difficult situation that, however, also allows the world to see that the national team is made of a different material, that its competitive nature is not negotiable, regardless of who wears the shirt. A mantra that was staged perfectly last Friday in Bratislava, when Scariolo’s boys invented a victory against Slovakia that has left them just one win away from qualifying for the 2025 Eurobasket. In fact, if they beat Slovakia again today the Slavs in Orense (8:00 p.m., TDP), will secure the ticket. The sequence is well known and has gone directly into the history of our basketball. Spain was down by three points (67-64) at the end of the first overtime and there were only four tenths left for a defeat to be confirmed that would leave it practically eliminated from the continental event. A fateful fate that Santi Yusta (Madrid, 27 years old) decided to avoid. The Zaragoza forward invented a steal of the ball, shot as best he could and signed an incredible triple that forced a new extra time, where Spain would settle the dispute (72-76). The action has brought a delay, as Slovakia defends that the possession clock was started late, so Yusta’s shot should have been disallowed for being out of time. Even stars of the stature of Evan Fournier, a player for Olympiacos and the French national team, raised their voices to complain. “In no way should the referees have allowed this to happen,” the Frenchman said on his social networks, words that were responded forcefully by many fans, who reminded the shooting guard of the defeat against Spain in the 2015 Eurobasket semifinals, where Pau Gasol scored 40 points. “It still stings,” responded Real Madrid center Eddy Tavares in an unprecedented event. The controversy no longer matters, because now Spain has found the necessary courage to complete the difficult undertaking in which it is embarked. Yusta is the best example of how the national team survives in this time between wars. The Madrid youth player had not been with the team since 2021, during the qualifiers for the previous Eurobasket. But the discrepancies between FIBA and the Euroleague are far from being resolved and Scariolo, once again, has been forced to use his imagination to put together a competitive list. Related News Forced to live poorly on the standard Yes Elite athletes without a pension: «Let them recognize that I worked. I don’t ask for more» Sergi FontPlayers like Yusta, important in Zaragoza but without a place in the Spanish elite, go from living a relatively comfortable day to day, with only one match a week with their clubs, to having the destiny of one of the most important selections in history. In a sport in which everything can be measured with advanced statistics, it is stimulating to see miracles like the one from Madrid, which do not respond to logic and allow their authors to be heroes for a day, as David Bowie sang.
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