Spain Overwhelms Greece in Basketball, Rudy Fernandez Is for Real

It was just one game, but two things looked relatively clear in last night/this morning's game between Spain and Greece.

1. Spain may be the closest thing we have to a gold medal contender outside of the US, and 2. Greece is probably not.

Behind Rudy Fernandez, AKA Blazers' dangerous multi-talented weapon number 756, Spain broke out of a close game using their superiority at guard, in route to an 81-66 win that wasn't as close as it looked.

Greece managed to keep it within range in the first half, and Vassilis Spanoulis worked the lane to his heart's content for 15 points, but this one was over pretty quick. Spain's depth at guard, with future first round NBA pick Ricky Rubio, Jose Calderon, and recent NBA departure Juan Carlos Navarro, was too much for Greece once Spain started to apply pressure. Spain outscored Greece 27-17 in the third, and put the game on lockdown.

Marc Gasol also looked good for Spain, alongside his brother Pau Gasol's predictably solid but quiet game. Marc showed a level of energy and physicality that Grizzlies fans can be excited for. The real star was Fernandez, though. The Blazers asset scored 16 points on 5-9 shooting, including a sick, running, one-handed, off-hand put back on a rebound. As hard as that was to describe, it looked even harder to do. There were some holes in his game, as some noticed, but it's not like he's on an uneven squad stateside. Blazers fans have a lot to be excited for.
On the flip side, Spain looks like who we thought they were, the team closest to USA in terms of talent to contend for the Gold.