In the summer of 2009, Katowice Eurobasket was played in Poland.  In the European final Spain won gold against Serbia by 85-63. Serbia with a younger team returns to the path of the medal seven years later and the history was consistent with Spain and was proclaimed Gold, European champion

In the semifinals Spain beat Greece by 82-64 and Serbia eliminated Slovenia by 96-92. In the fight for the Bronze Greece beat Slovenia by 57-56.

Spain is a perfect machine. That’s the conclusion that the national basketball team recorded on fire in the final of the Eurobasket Poland 2009, in which they overwhelmed Serbia with a spectacular game (85-63) and in which they hung the gold for the first time in their history, after six lost finals. With this victory, Sergio Scariolo’s team took revenge for the defeat to Serbia in the first match of the tournament (66-57) and the bad taste resulting in the final of Eurobasket Madrid 2007, when Pau Gasol missed the decisive basket against Russia in the last second.

Once again, Spain was a hurricane from the beginning, as already happened in the matches against Poland, France and Greece, thus avoiding the possibility of the same deficiencies arising from the first matches of the tournament. Pau Gasol and Navarro did not miss the appointment and from the minute one stood as the responsible, marked the cadence and led the team.

In addition, the three pointers became the highway to gold (4 out of 7 in the first quarter) and, in just one sigh, ‘the red’ went on the scoreboard ten points up, thanks also to the rebounds taken and defensive intensity. Added to this was the success of Rudy, which propelled the team to the end of the first quarter (24-14). Spain gave no truce in the second period, which clenched the teeth even more and fought each ball to try to feel the shock at rest. Fundamental in those minutes the work of Felipe Reyes (7 points and 8 rebounds) and Pau Gasol, under the hoops, which favored the fast game and counterattack with which so much enjoys this team. This facilitated that the rent was shot to the 26 points, giving step to the game of hall mark of the house of Scariolo’s (52-26).

Relaxation and maximum advantage The restart gave some freshness to the Serbian set and Spain lost advantage gradually, until Felipe Reyes, Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol cut a 6-14 partial root, which had raised some doubt in the circulation of Spanish play. From then on, Spain let go, let go of all the tension accumulated during the championship and showed why this team continues to be among the best in the world, with a recital of assists, mates and alley oops, and putting the maximum income at 29 points (79-50). Pau Gasol’s baton continued to set the rhythm of the team’s play (18 points, 11 rebounds) in the last minutes and Spain was finally able to hang the gold that had resisted so much. The ‘golden juniors’ are still making history.

After the final, Pau Gasol received the award for ‘most valuable player’ of the tournament and Rudy Fernandez entered the ideal quintet, along with Pau, Erazen Lorbek (Slovenia), Vasileios Spanoulis (Greece) and Milos Teodosic (Serbia).

Spain 85
*Rubio – 10p, 1a.
*Navarro – 12p, 1r.
*Fernandez – 13p, 5r.
*Garbajosa – 3p, 2r.
*P.Gasol – 18p, 11r.
Lopez – 2p, 3br.
Llull – 5p, 1a.
Mumbru – 0p, 1r.
Reyes – 7p, 8r.
M.Gasol – 6p, 5r.
Claver – 2p.
Cabezas – 7p, 2r.

Serbia 63
*Teodosic – 5p, 2a.
*Tepic – 2p, 2r.
*Tripkovic – 15p, 2r.
*Velickovic – 15p, 5r.
*Krstic – 12p, 4r.
Popovic – 1p, 1r.
Markovic – 2p, 2br.
Paunic – 1p, 2r.
Raduljica – 6p, 3r.
Perovic – 4p, 2r.
Bjelica – 0p, 1r.
Macvan – 0p, 1r.