Could Pau Gasol really miss Spain’s semifinal matchup with Team USA?
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When Spain locks horns with the United States on Friday for the third straight Summer Olympics, this time in the semifinals of the men’s basketball tournament in Rio de Janeiro, after consecutive gold-medal matchups in Beijing and London, they might – might – do so without leading scorer and interior linchpin Pau Gasol.
The word comes from head coach Sergio Scariolo, by way of a Spanish-language interview translated by Eurohoops.net:
It’s true that Gasol was hurting in the game against France and has a calf injury and that’s why Scariolo when asked for his condition speaking to the Spanish media, he replied: “He is not well, I can not say for sure that he is going to play. We continue with his treatments and the truth is that we needed him right now. We hope his condition to evolve well and at least be ready to help as much as he can his teammates in the game. I can not say anything more right now.”
The Spanish newspaper Marca reported Thursday that La Roja’s “preparation has been thrown into chaos by the coach’s admission “that a calf strain picked up during Spain’s dominant 92-67 win over rival France in Wednesday’s quarterfinal matchup could sideline Gasol, who’s averaging a team-high 17 points, an Olympics-best 8.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.2 blocks per game in Rio. Gasol was relatively quiet in the win over France, scoring just five points on 2-for-7 shooting.
But Gasol did pull down eight boards, dish three dimes and block three shots in his 23 minutes to help Spain advance to the final four and another meeting with the Americans, and even at age 36, Gasol was Spain’s unquestioned offensive focal point through the tournament’s first five games. His presence remains vital for Spain’s chances of pulling an upset – albeit a more mild one than many expected before the beginning of the fortnight – but according to Scariolo, if there’s any question about whether playing might further compromise Gasol’s health, the big fella’s sitting.
“We know how critical Pau is to our team but his health is our priority, so we will see how he develops,” Scariolo said, according to Marca. “We won’t rush into a decision.”
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Spain has looked very impressive of late, bouncing back from a worrying 0-2 start to the Olympics with four consecutive wins, including three decisive victories over Lithuania, Argentina and France. Point guard Ricky Rubio has trended up after early tournament struggles, teaming with Rudy Fernandez, Sergio Rodriguez, Sergio Llull and veteran shooter Juan Carlos Navarro to give Spain a deep, talented and experienced backcourt. And when Gasol couldn’t get going against France, Spain’s other bigs – Nikola Mirotic, Felipe Reyes and Willy Hernangomez – stepped up to pick up the slack, perhaps proving to Scariolo that he’s got the depth up front to compete in and win high-level games.
Even so, and even with Team USA looking shaky before returning to dominant form against Argentina, toppling the U.S. figures to be a mighty difficult task for the Spanish, and doing so without Gasol could be too tall an order.
“We have to take advantage of Pau in many different ways,” Scariolo said after beating Argentina. “The rest of the team recognizes his leadership and they accept that he’s our leader, and we have to demand on the things he’s good at, which are many.”
For their part, though, the U.S. coaching staff doesn’t seem to be putting too much stock in Scariolo’s off-day injury report. They think they’re going to see an awful lot of the two-time NBA champion and Spanish scoring legend come Friday.
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“No, we don’t pay attention to that,” said U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA TODAY. “We expect everybody to be 100 percent. I’m sure, when you play in this, there are bumps and bruises on our guys. That’s why we did more of a walk-through in our game plan. You try not to be physical in this quick turnaround. We expect him to play.”
If he does, a U.S. defense that’s often been picked apart by smart ball and player movement will have to be prepared to do battle with one of the greatest scorers in international hoops history. If he doesn’t, the rest of his Spanish teammates will likely have to pull out the game of their lives to upset the favorites and advance to their third straight gold-medal game.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
