We included China-Spain in the Golden Ticket more for extracurricular reasons than any expectation of competitiveness. To date, the game was the closest fought of any in the Olympics. China, perhaps angry about the insensitive ad the Spaniards took out in a Spanish paper and almost certainly bolstered by a super-spirited crowd, fought hard, leading by 14 early in the fourth quarter.
The Spanish needed a Marc Gasol prayer to get the game to overtime, which is where the Spanish asserted themselves as Yao Ming fouled out and Pau Gasol found himself. Jose Calderon and Juan Carlos Navarro started the game on the bench, which might have been a form of punishment for the Marca scandal or could have just been a stupid mistake with the Spanish coaching staff. Calderon never got into a rhythm, and Navarro offered mediocre play in his 16 minutes.
If China had taken the United States to overtime, we'd be in a catatonic state right now. Marca's online header says something in 72-point font about "sweating red China." Yeah, that seems like a fair assessment. Spain plays the U.S. on Saturday, and both teams should remain undefeated ... we think.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-12-2008 @ 10:48AM
Rufusan said...
What about 17 year-old Ricky Rubio leading his team in the last quarter and overtime, with amazing defense and assists?...I wasn't missing Calderon when Rubio was playing...Portland's Rudy Fernandez was also important at the end.
That's what i miss in your article
Sorry to say that all that racism talk out of that silly picture seems like an over reaction to me
greetings
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8-12-2008 @ 3:19PM
henryclemente said...
Overreaction? So if the Olympics were being held in...say... Ethiopia, and the Spanish Olympic team posed for a team picture in...say.... blackface, would that meet your criteria for racism?
8-12-2008 @ 12:27PM
frank said...
Hey Ziller, this is the Olympics is it ??
All the nations in the world compete in a harmonious
way ?
Maybe to reach good will and peace with all
mankind ?
What are you doing ?
Exactly the opposite ? Are you sure of your viewpoints?
Get a life!
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8-12-2008 @ 12:47PM
frank said...
By the way Ziller, Chris Kaman is a lot better than the
12th man in team USA;
Let's just said that this team does not have a legit
back-up center besides Howard ?
Kaman is at worst the 10th man in team USA but
in your opinion is the 12th man ? not black maybe ?
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8-14-2008 @ 11:42AM
DanRad said...
From what I could see on the photo the Spanish players were NOT pulling their skin back at the eyes for a "slant" effect, just had their fingers pointing to them. This indicated that it may have been a marketing ploy for the purchasing freight forwarding company, which is "SEUR"--If pronounced in English it is "Seer"--i.e. "one who sees"--which of course is involving the eyes. As to why this would be kept mum by the team and company, it is possible the reason was not told to the people being photographed and it also might be higly embarrassing for a Spanish company to admit they were using a play on words in what for them is a "foreign language" even though most freight documents are in English these days since it has become the "lingua franca" of business. The company's folks after all have to live and do business in Spain.
But regardless it was a good game! Am looking forward to the US one, but I hope we beat them. [ I admit to political bias here--I am irked that a Spanish company is trying to buy the PA Turnpike...and that our governor is thinking of selling it off for a century to them. ]
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