Pascual praises Spain’s effort to stop Doncic: ‘They knew how to get Luka out of rhythm’ / News - Basketnews.com

Credit: SIPA – Scanpix Credit SIPA – Scanpix

The head coach of St Petersburg Zenit, Xavi Pascual, shared his thoughts about the amazing battle between Slovenia and Spain.

Player of the Game EFF 22 Mike Tobey Points 16 Accuracy 7-12 Rebounds 14 Assists 3

Despite Spain’s loss of 87-95, Pascual praised the Spanish national team staff for their efforts in trying to contain Luka Doncic.

The Slovenian star ended the game with a near triple-double performance, scoring 12 points (2/7 FG, 6/11 F), 14 rebounds, and 9 assists.

“Slovenia is a tremendously uncomfortable opponent due to its characteristics for a team like Spain,” Pascual said to Javier Maestro of encestando.es. “But the Spanish team dominated the match tactically during the first minutes.”

“Excellent approach from the coaching staff of Spain and great impact on the game with their decisions. Slovenia attacked the Box + 1 defense posed by Scariolo as if it were a classic zonal defense and lost the rhythm of the game.

In addition, Spain knew how to get Doncic out of the rhythm of the game until he committed his third personal foul,” added Pascual.

The head coach of Zenit also emphasized that Slovenia managed to improve both its defense and offense, which allowed them to come back in the game.

“At this point in the game, I thought that Spain had won half a game,” Pascual admitted. “But far from breaking down, Slovenia defended better little by little and found the precise match rhythm to attack Spain.

“Slovenia’s positional attacks were more with pick and roll at the head and center's short roll to the basket as a second creator. Tobey has given excellent passes. Slovenia found its way and was feeling comfortable within minutes,” added Pascual.

Pascual also emphasized Spain’s problems with rebounding and explained that the high volume of threes was due to Slovenia’s game of plan. Pascual mentioned that Slovenia protected its paint leaving open Spain’s shooters, which was the risk Slovenia was willing to take.

In their quarterfinal matchup, Slovenia will face Germany, whilst Spain will take on the Team USA challenge.

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