Spain’s first defeat in the Eurobasket. The Family lost 73-83 to Belgium. He’s very physical who knows how to leverage his strengths and override his opponent’s. So now it’s time to focus on Tuesday’s duel against Montenegro to close the ticket to the last 16 in a very complex group.

With the calm achieved in the victories over Bulgaria (114-87) and Georgia (64-90)of these Sergio Scariolo In the third match of Group A, they faced a more formidable opponent, encouraged by possible mathematical classification. for the 16th round. For that, yes, you had to win.

The first section highlighted two problems the Spanish team has had so far in the tournament: rebound and percentage in the trio. The Belgians caught seven offensive players in the Spanish circle in the first quarter (only two in the second quarter). And when it comes to shooting, it’s a measly 3/12 which is 1/8.

A few points in the first quarter. Nationalized Lorenzo Brown got off to a good start from the Spanish trio (7-3, min. 2:10) Against an opponent who had a second or even third chance, he reversed the score with Obasohan’s triple trio (9-10, min. 6:06).

When Spain couldn’t find the game, how their opponent was behind by 6 points, they closed the fourth place even higher by attacking. However, Usman Garuba emerged with his second consecutive steal, smashing the opponent’s circle and recharging his teammates’ confidence batteries (11-15).

He said and it’s over. Spain stunned for seven minutes with their long offense and their supportive and impeccable defense with two determined players. Jaime Fernández understood better than that Lorenzo Brown and Alberto Díaz told how they should play, while Darío Brizuela unleashed his magic.

With these conditions, the current world champion managed to get an advantageous run of 15-0 (26-17, min. 15:22), and Gillet made an unexpected return to the match by breaking from a free throw. Scariolo’s men forgot to play and let the Belgian defense devour the field.

Belgium, where Lecomte was the crown jewel of the ceremonies, took two more free throws from Gillet in the last minute of the first half (31-32), but Willy Hernangómez’s furious basket allowed him to go to Spain’s locker room with a minimal income (33-32) and many doubts.

This complex dynamic continued throughout the third quarter, with Lecomte deftly managing his team despite the accumulation of minutes and a defense that held back the Spanish strong points. Of course, Scariolo seemed to save Willy for the fourth quarter.

Juancho’s trio (best Spaniard ever) gave Spain a three-point lead (46-43)however, the Belgians started to like each other and Vanwijn, Mwema and Lecomte kept their teams five points (49-54) and three (54-57) at the end of the third quarter.

The final quarter started with fear after Jonathan Tabu and Obasohan’s (60-65) three-pointers and Spain responded with López-Arostegui and Lorenzo Brown before entering an absolute playing pit that led him to retake the lead (71-69). to get their first defeat in the tournament.

Belgium played their way through the last five minutes, taking advantage of Spain’s defensive weaknesses and drawing inspiration from players like Jonathan Tab.u take a sensational Lecomte or Gillet win with a clear 73-83. It’s time to fix bugs.

Data sheet:

73 – Spain (11+22+21+19): Brown (11), Parra (3), Juancho Hernangómez (11), López-Arostegui (7) and Willy Hernangómez (18) -five starts-, Rudy Fernández (2), Pradilla (3), Garuba (6), Jaime Fernandez (5), Diaz (1) and Brizuela (6).

83 – Belgium (15+17+25+26): Lecomte (20), Bako (10), Gillet (14), Obasohan (11) and Vanwijn (8) -five starts-, Bleijenbergh (3), De Zeeuw (2), Libert (2), Mwema (6), Taboo (6) and Grave (1).

referees: Saverio Lanzarini (ITA), Dariusz Zapolski (POL) and Erez Gurion (ISR). without being eliminated

Events: The match, which coincided with the third day of Eurobasket Group A, played in front of approximately 1000 spectators at the Tbilisi Arena in Tbilisi.