Stakes are still high

I agree with David Blatt that Russia played some fine defense in the first half, denying Spain any resemblance of an open shot. But after the intermission they stopped moving the ball offensively and the level of aggressiveness went down a little bit. And needless to say, physical condition of Kirilenko affected his own performance and subsequently Russia’s play.

In turn, Spain got a confidence boost from several not-very-likely sources. I mean, you’d think in a game like that Pau Gasol or Navarro would take over and drag their team out of trouble. Instead, they got a very complete game from Fernandez, Calderon and Llull in a reverse scenario as compared to what we saw in that group stage game when it was Russia who went on a romp after the break.

Spain actually made only two adjustments in the second half – one on defense and the other one on offense. First of all, they raised the first line of defense and started challenging Russia’s ballhandlers more. Also, they focused on denying entry passes. Russia often initiates its offense with a pass from the point guard to the high post or to the wing, and in a second half Spain did a really good job forcing the recipients of those passes out of position. As a result, time after time David Blatt’s players found themselves much further from the basket than they wanted to be.

Offensively, in the first half Spain never used dribble penetration. They moved the ball by passing it from side to side. After the break, any pass from low post back to the perimeter produced immediate dribble penetration toward the basket which led to wide open three pointers and frequent trips to the free throw line.

Also, watching the quarterfinal I didn’t get a feeling that Russia was physically tired as a team. To me, they just got nervous after they started the second half slowly and saw their lead trimmed.

It’s a shame Russia couldn’t cap its impressive Olympic run with a trip to the Finals. Still, there’s one more game left and the stakes are still high. Winning bronze would be a huge accomplishment for David Blatt and his players.

It won’t be easy though. Argentina is very focused on bringing home a medal, it’s been their goal from day one. You could see they didn’t expend much of their mental energy in the semifinals versus USA. They knew they’d lose the game all the way, so they opted to save what they could for Sunday. Make no mistake – Argentina will show up for the bronze medal game and they’ll bring everything they have.

The game itself will be played at an early hour – 11 a.m. local time and Kirilenko’s health will be paramount for Russia’s chances to finish in the top three.