MADRID, Spain -- Some postgame thoughts from the Spanish capital as Brazil advances to a quarterfinal date with Serbia at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup with 21 points from Raul Neto heading up an 85-65 victory over Argentina at the Palacio de Deportes.
How It Happened: Since being manhandled by Spain 82-63 last week in a game that was billed as a test of their Cup credentials, Brazil have coasted past Serbia and Egypt to restore some of that luster.
Argentina, with elimination for the loser and the symbolism of facing their old rivals, was always going to provide another examination but Brazil came through with a domineering second-half performance.
Brazil shot just 2-for-11 from deep in the opening half with New York Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni’s trio of 3-pointers figuring in a 6-for-11 showing that took Argentina into a 36-33 halftime advantage.
It was all changed though in the third with much more vibrant ball movement and a concerted effort to take good open shots. A 15-3 run to open the third swung the momentum over to the Brazilians for good.
And with Prigioni, who finished with a team-high 18 points, running into foul trouble, there was no way back with Argentina making just 4 of its 18 shots from beyond the arc in the second half.
The Serbians, who earlier destroyed Greece in the second half for a 90-72 victory, might struggle to contain Nene Hilario and Tiago Splitter in the next round with ex-Nets center Nenad Krstic admitting he is still only good for “around 10 minutes per game” after missing much of the build-up with injury.
When the teams met in the preliminary phase, Brazil won 81-73 but it was all but over after Serbia was outscored 32-12 in the third quarter.
Battle of the (Fairly) Bigs: For the first 13 minutes, Luis Scola cut a frustrated figure. The Indiana Pacers forward, manning the middle, was corralled by a rotation of Splitter then Nene, missing his first four field goal attempts and finding himself outmuscled at both ends.
The frustration was clear when he was called for an offensive foul while backing down Nene in the post before sitting out the final 6:21 of the first half. He wasn’t overly-missed defensively, with his fellow NBAers combining for just five points before the break, but Argentina only got to the line twice in 20 minutes.
And while they weren’t huge offensive factors, Splitter’s scoring and passing, and Nene’s sheer presence were a huge factor in breaking Argentina’s resistance.
Play of the Game: Marcus Vieria de Souza doesn’t sound quite as cool as Marquinhos but the 30-year-old Brazil big was a huge factor in his team’s heating up in the second half.
After Splitter had given their team a first lead since the opening minutes, Marquinhos bore down on Scola to drive the ball home while duping his defender into committing a third foul.
It had the Brazilian bench off their seats in unison. It seemed to root Argentina to the floor and exemplified the physicality that ultimately made the difference, even though their sizable and loud band of traveling supporters were on their feet until the very end.
Prigioni knew how much this meant back in Argentina where, no matter the sport, second best to their big neighbors hurts. “It’s always a rivalry,” the veteran New York Knicks guard said. “People talk about that.”
The 37-year-old will soon return Stateside with his role under Derek Fisher uncertain at Madison Square Garden. There’s been occasional trade rumors this offseason with Prigioni’s name included.
So does he expect to start his 20th professional season overall with the Knicks? “I have to believe it, yes,” he said.
What’s Next: Both Brazil and Serbia get a two-day break before squaring off Wednesday in Madrid for a place in the final four. But that’s a little less than Spain and France, which are on a 72-hour hiatus after advancing on Saturday, respectively, against Senegal and Croatia.
As you’d expect, the European rivals have frequently collided in recent years, including in the semifinals of the 2013 EuroBasket when the French snatched a 75-72 victory en route to claiming the title.
But that counts for little 12 months later with Les Bleus missing Tony Parker and Alexis Ajinca and the Spaniards adding five players including Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Serge Ibaka -- an extreme makeover that showed when the hosts dished out a crushing 88-64 beating in the preliminary round on Sept. 3.
“We knew it’s going to be hard,” said one-time Sonics and Timberwolves forward Mickael Gelabale. “Spain are playing very good basketball now and they’re at home. But we think we can do it.”
This will be meeting No. 74 since the first in 1943 with the standings tipped 48-25 in Spain’s favor. And even though their dominant form so far has raised expectations of a potential conquest over Team USA next Sunday, memories are still fresh of the final of EuroBasket 2007, staged in this city, when that host advantage failed to prevent Russia from snatching the championship with a dramatic 60-59 win after Pau Gasol’s shot rimmed out at the buzzer.
“Everybody remembers that game,” Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio said. “They knew how tough it was playing at home playing under a lot of pressure but at the end, it didn’t help us.
“Pau didn’t make the shot. But we’re handling the pressure every well this time. And the pressure is going to go up because when you lose, you go home.”
