Hopeful fluidity in the Spanish team

Spain is performing adequately in this World Cup, confirming the path outlined in the preparation matches and corroborated by the placidity of its passage through the first phase. While waiting for Latvia and especially Canada, more demanding measuring sticks, the feeling is growing that Scariolo has once again formed a solid and solvent group, ambitious and confident in his possibilities.

His rotation flows, understandable and consistent with the characteristics of the players and the demands of the game. In modern basketball, physical toughness forces many players to handle. It’s the test of a coach’s cotton wool. In this section, as in others, Scariolo is a master, because with his correct decisions he usually achieves a double objective. The first, add efforts and successes by achieving a good contribution from almost all the players. The second is to achieve positive associations between complementary players at different moments of the match so that they can show off the best of their repertoire.

Juan Nunez, the trendy boy of the national team, flows and makes it flow. It is no wonder, because even knowing his enormous talent, his performance is exceeding expectations. No situation seems complicated enough to see him overcome, which makes him related to other historical point guards of extreme precocity such as Corbalan or Rubio. To understand that we are facing a very special player, it is enough to observe his calm and unalterable non-verbal language. His relaxed way of raising the ball by dribbling or leading a counterattack, his head always upright looking for the best-placed teammate, his mind clear to decide between giving an assist or shooting a three-pointer. Everything he does conveys security and emotional control. What life is. A few weeks ago he was going to watch the World Cup on TV. Today it is a fundamental reference in the national team’s game.

The decisive defensive framework flows, especially when the bugle call is carried out by two unique players such as Alberto Diaz and Usman Garuba. Every time Scariolo puts them on the court, they give a whole course of intensity, legs and willingness to break their backs in the fight for a ball without an owner or stand in front of a freight train at full speed to steal an attacking foul. This unbreakable spirit is contagious so the effect on team morale is priceless.

The generational change flows, slowly and without fanfare. Young people are taking center stage in a very natural way without the most seasoned ones having to lose weight in the collective network. Different ages and vital moments with a common script that allows them to overlap in a generous and altruistic way. Result, everyone happy and in favor of the work.

The group feeling also flows that reaches even those who, due to various circumstances, cannot be in the here and now. The detail on Ricky Rubio’s shirt explains an attention that goes beyond the professional and that delves into that mantra of #LaFamilia, a hallmark of collective identity.

In short, there is a team that knows perfectly well the times of this type of tournaments. Having completed the first commitments without a hitch, the road steepens in the search for the best position for the quarterfinals, a Rubicon that separates success from failure. Spain is heading towards this new scenario calmly, without fanfare, attracting just enough attention, focused on what it does, knowing that it will need one more march. The one that can give him a greater impact on the game of the previous MVP, Willy Hernangomez.

It’s time for fine tuning. Of course, always flowing.

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