SAITAMA, Japan, Sept 1 - Spain scraped into the final of the world basketball
championship for the first time on Friday but look to have paid a devastating
price in the process.
Spain's star player Pau Gasol limped out late in the dramatic 75-74
semi-final win over Argentina and is a major doubt for Sunday's gold medal game
with Greece.
The Memphis Grizzlies forward scored 19 points before going down heavily and
watched the last moments clutching an ice pack to his left foot.
"Gasol is a little down at the moment because he would love to be with us on
Sunday," Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez said. "We don't know if he will make it."
Spain coach Pepu Hernandez said Gasol's involvement in Sunday's final was
"unlikely" after his go-to player left the arena in a wheelchair.
However, Spain's players promised to step up and fill the void against a
Greece team who shocked tournament favourites the United States 101-95 in
Friday's first semi-final.
"We are ready to play with Pau or without him -- but we'd rather play with
him," Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon said. "We need to stay relaxed...and
hope for good news in the morning."
SQUEEZED HOME
Argentina raced to a 13-2 lead to start the game but Spain stormed back to go
into halftime with a 40-38 advantage.
Spain led by seven midway through the fourth quarter but Argentina almost
produced a stunning late comeback after two Luis Scola free throws tied the game
at 74-74 with 21.9 seconds left.
However, Calderon made one of two from the foul line with 18.6 seconds
remaining and Andres Nocioni missed from the corner just before the final buzzer
as Spain squeezed home.
"This is historic," said Calderon. "It is our best tournament but we have
worked hard to be here.
"It's great for us, it's great for Spain, it's great for everybody.
"We have had a problem always at the Olympics and world championships but we
know we are a good team.
"Sometimes you need luck and today luck was with us."
Spain have never won a major international title, their best achievement to
date a silver medal at the 1984 Olympics.
They entered the championships as the hot-favourite to meet the U.S. in the
gold medal game and lived up to their part of the bargain.
By reaching the final, Spain also cleared a psychological hurdle; Their
under-achieving footballers, who have not advanced past the World Cup
quarter-finals since 1950, had left an air of scepticism around the basketball
team.
"This is really important," said Garbajosa. "For years we have done good but
just missed the finals. Now we are here and this is very important to everyone."
