EuroBasket 2022 ended with the Spaniards celebrating the most hopeless gold medal in their history, the French leaving Germany ahead of the European champions ceremony (where did the Savoie-Vivre middleman go?) almost happy with the third medal in the annals of the Europeans basketball team and Poland the 4th happiest team ever (along with FYROM 2011).

Predictions that NBA stars would dominate were shattered when humble Spain ended up playing the most organized basketball of them all. The furious Rocha, who has never been in the top four since 1999, reached the top when nobody really cared. Or at least he didn’t count her among the big favorites of the event.

One is Giannis, Jokic and Doncic, another is the Hernangometh brothers, with one Juancho spending more on film sets playing Bo Cruz than on the NBA courts over the past year. And yet, in the finale, Huacho outdid himself on the big screen. There he lost – at least in the beginning – a few, so for the flow of the film. In the final, the dishonor gave it his all.

But Willy, a player for the New Orleans Pelicans (replacement for Jonas Valanciunas) was also named MVP of the tournament! It was like a kind fairy turned them into the Gasol brothers and made their dream come true.

The truth is that to win a Eurobasket when in fact you are not the favourite, luck also plays a part, maybe even metaphysics. The president of the Spanish FA, Jorge Garbajosa, admitted it himself, tweeting a line by British author Roal Dahl: “Those who don’t believe in magic will never encounter it“.

OK, don’t think that the Spanish recruited magicians and alchemists to build a great national team that we admired and raised our hats to in Berlin. The former Taugres, Malaga and Real Madrid (in the NBA, with the Raptors) striker, who has won 6 medals in the Roja shirt and now leads the federation, finds something magical in all this beautiful Spanish adventure this year.

As in all companies that make history, the feeling of overcoming every obstacle, every limit has a supernatural dimension. Of course, fairies and magicians only exist in fairy tales. Spain’s success is not due to a good saint who protected the Iberians, but to their own work, done systematically and above all respecting the basic principles of basketball.

So methodical for the first time

Due to the circumstances created (transition to another generation of basketball players due to the retirement or injuries of the great stars of the past), it was perhaps the first time that Spain worked with a method that followed a certain philosophy from the beginning to the end of the tournament.

At other tournaments she didn’t put as much emphasis on her preparation due to her skill level and used the first rounds as games in which she prepared (as she did) for the round of 16. Everything was different this year. Like squaring the circle or basketball if you prefer.

A month and a half has passed since the August 9 friendly in a packed OAKA, when the national team prevailed with +17 points (31 from Antetokounmpo). We celebrated the win in a friendly and Scariolo and his players quickly corrected any mistakes they made over time.

The Italian coach has been considered the ideal domestic manager for Spain’s big stars like the Gasol brothers, Navarro, Rubio, Sergio Rodriguez and all those who have risen to the top of European and world basketball. Now he also turned out to be a great creator of a team with basketball principles he never betrayed and thanks to them won the gold medal.

Marca wrote that this gold is the 61-year-old manager’s masterpiece. He’s right. He was called upon to build a team centered around the two Hernangometh brothers and the only “survivor” from the golden generation, 37-year-old Rudy Fernandez. Sergio Yule’s injury on the eve of the Eurobasket tied his hands even more.

Or did it work out for him? Instead of Bomber Yule, the dozen was completed by Alberto Diath, adding two more players (Jaime Fernandez and Dario Brithuela) to the Malaga squad featured in the Spain squad. Valencia had two more (Pradilla, Lopez-Arostegui). We haven’t seen many Spanish national team editions with a Real Madrid player (Rudi) and none from Barcelona!

And yet this wild emergency Rocha won the gold medal to universal applause. With key selections from Lorenzo Brown making an appearance at point guard, Rudy as the youngsters’ leader inspiration and a vehicle for the players’ experience from the tough Spanish league, Scariolo and his partners relied more than ever on teamwork, Zone variations in defense and partnerships in attack.

In the end, against the backdrop of the photo of the European champions on the Berlin Wall memorial, the Spain coach couldn’t help but praise the entire team with the best words of efficiency, commitment and belief in the ultimate goal.

Having now won eight medals with the Spanish national team, he has achieved four gold medals in the EuroBasket. That is, everything Rocha took (2009, 11, 15, 22). He passed Dusan Ivkovic (three with Yugoslavia, Serbia), hired pioneering Soviet basketball coach Stepan Spandarian, and only “Colonel” Alexander Gomelsky has more gold (six total) than the Italian champion.

It is valuable what he said after the triumph of his team, for which he declared himself very happy and complete in basketball. “We left teams that had NBA Stars, MVPs, All-Stars and so on. And that alone gives me incredible satisfaction‘ originally commented to emphasize: ‘The truth is that with this Eurobasket we had to think about many things. We worked hard but what we did is basketball itself. It was more difficult for me to coach Spain with the previous teams because there were more talents, personalities, stars. Here management was simpler and easier. Thanks to humility and egolessness, we managed to bring our technical and tactical approach to a very high level in all games“.

In fact, Spain has never indulged in excess. Scariolo’s players, perhaps aware of their potential, committed to team play, trusting their teammates and knowing when to shoot and when to fold. The only time they got away was when they stormed the press room to shower their coach and Juancho Hernangomez with champagne

Scariolo spoke from the bottom of his heart: “Basketball is generous to those who respect the values ​​of teamwork. And that’s what we did, passing the ball, taking on the roles, with hard training, in solidarity and without egos. It was a triumph of basketball as a team sport and when that happens the coach can’t help but be happy. We played a great tournament“.

Yes, but with American Brown?

The Spaniards also thought with basketball cynicism when choosing the naturalized Lorenzo Brown. If Nikola Mirotic hadn’t broken his leg and suffered major Achilles tendon damage, he probably would have been Rocha’s ‘stranger’ at Eurobasket

Okay, you won’t believe Garbajosa’s claim that “Brown had a dream to play for the Spanish national team“But the choice of the Spanish FA turned out to be checkmate.

Many say that the aloof American guard, who will play in Maccabi next year, is a small blemish on the European champions’ image. I would like to remind you that the Spaniards lost a Eurobasket at home to a shot by a naturalized player (Holden).

Spain is not among those countries at the mercy of an American, such as Bo McCaleb’s FYROM in 2011. Who can blame the Spaniards for a flaw in the production process in all competitions this year from children’s to men’s, played in the finals and won three gold and one silver medal?

“With Rubio injured and Carlos Alothen missing too, we didn’t have many chances. Sergio Rodríguez retired from the national team while Yule was also problematic due to his frequent injuries. That’s how we thought about the process of Brown’s naturalization. We knew we would provoke comments because the federation’s role is to develop basketball etc. etc. But Brown was shocking. You should have seen him helping the newbies and talking to them in training. Really enjoyed it…‘ said President Garbajosa.

However, Osman Garouba started rapping in the dressing room, singing about Lorenzo from … Albacete, while the American himself, despite the fatigue, had every reason to be happy about the gold medal and his participation in the Top 5 organization

Scariolo put it from a different angle, commenting on the spikes left by the Spaniards themselves for selection: “The discussion about Lorenzo was opportunistically based on ignorance and xenophobiaFinally, Spain has not committed any illegal acts, nor has it “stolen” from the scales. It has managed to maintain the tradition of naturalization for over 50 years. It has not prevented it under any circumstances from developing basketball and reaching the top where it now remains for two decades.

He owes this to a comprehensive effort being made in the country. Spain may have three or four teams in the Euroleague, but above all there is the ACB league, whose matches are inevitably played exclusively on Saturday and Sunday.

However, he owes it to top personalities such as Rudy Fernandez, the father of the “family”, as the Spaniards called their national team this year. The 37-year-old captain broke down in tears but lifted the European Champions’ trophy and won the 11th medal of his long career.

Only Pau Gasol has more in his collection. We saw with our own eyes how dedicated he is to this tournament and this special team, but his wife Marta Fernandez described it in moving words

“I’ve watched you play basketball for thirty years. But I’ve never seen you so proud as in that Eurobasket. You have taught a lesson in leadership and dedication. And I’m so glad you’re finally getting the recognition you deserve“.

Say hello to our Mrs. Marta…