MADRID, 15 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish basketball coach, Sergio Scariolo, assured that against Lithuania, rival this Tuesday and Thursday in the next two preparation matches for the Eurobasket, they must go out on the court to play “with pride and toughness” against physically stronger Lithuanians.
“You don’t have to waste a second. When it’s time to face rivals as demanding as Greece or Lithuania, you have to go out on the field with pride, toughness, intensity and concentration to reach the point that our abilities will allow us,” he assured the media. after training.
Spain faces another double date, this time against Lithuania, with a first match in Gran Canaria. “I would like to see a team that, against a much stronger team physically, notices that physical difference as little as possible,” the coach asked.
“I would like us to take a step forward, that our hardness in the impacts is high, that we manage to keep their big men away from the paint, that we help our big men when they assert that physical superiority,” he added.
Scariolo, after seeing his team lose and win against Greece in previous duels, pointed out that they have just done a good couple of training sessions on Canarian soil. “We are making progress in our renovation and growth work,” he celebrated.
“Practically all the players have had to begin to have a role that they did not have, or to go from having a complementary role to another more protagonist. Almost the entire team has to adapt to new situations and it requires a great effort from everyone,” he added. , in this sense.
Finally, he asked his players, facing the duel against the Lithuanians, to compete without their own mistakes. “And I would like us to be able to compete with a low number of errors against a team with a very high physical pace and that knows how to play basketball and has great players at all positions,” he warned.
For his part, forward Xabi López-Arostegui assured that they want to take on the Lithuanians. “We’re fine, we’ve just rested for a couple of days and you can feel the desire to compete and train together. The first test against Greece was very tough and we reacted in Madrid. We showed the lines we want to build and follow. Now we have a new challenge ahead of us.” Lithuania,” he celebrated.
“There are another two weeks to start and a lot of work to do. We are laying the foundations of the team we want to be, to get to know each other and play at ease, and it is soon to set a goal for the Eurobasket because we have a lot ahead of us”, he commented, cautious , when asked about the goal to reach in the Eurobasket.
Regarding preparation, he acknowledged that Greece and Lithuania are two “very powerful” rivals. “The first (Greece) served as a reality check to find out the rivals we were going to have in the Eurobasket. In the second game we improved in desire and intensity. Now we have a very strong rival, we have to have individual responsibility and add up as group,” he said.