Spain, without Gasol, routs Greece for world hoops goldSAITAMA, Japan -- Pau Gasol's teammates kept their word, and he had a trophy for each crutch supporting him. Spain won its first world championship without its star in a performance worthy of a Hollywood script. With the injured Gasol cheering from the bench, Spain beat Greece 70-47 Sunday night in an emotional victory some thought couldn't happen and few thought would be so easy. Gasol led Spain (9-0) in scoring and rebounding throughout the tournament. When the 7-footer broke his foot with about a minute left in the 75-74 semifinal win over Argentina, his team's gold-medal hopes dimmed considerably. "Against Argentina that was a night of pain and happiness, and it has become happiness," said Gasol, the world championship trophy on one side and the MVP award on the other. "It couldn't be any better today. It's hard to describe with words." "My teammates today played an amazing game," he added. "They played with their hearts and together as a unit. It's no fun to watch. I thought I would suffer some more, but I am so happy to see the way they responded without me being there." Gasol stood holding his head in his hands in the final seconds, openly in tears. It wasn't long before the Memphis Grizzlies star hopped to midcourt to join his teammates in a circle, sitting on the court wearing headbands given to them at the final buzzer. "I was just super happy and couldn't contain myself from crying," he said. "It is so special to be a part of this team and not being able to be there really hurt me." Spain's challenge seemed even more difficult considering a near perfect performance by Greece (8-1) in a 101-95 semifinal win over the United States. The European champions put on an impressive offensive and defensive display in getting to the final for the first time. "Greece got to the final and played excellent," Gasol said. "I was a little afraid after the way they played together and on defense." There was no reason to worry. Spain limited Greece to less than half the points it scored against the U.S. and kept its shooting percentage to about half (33 percent vs. 63 percent). The United States won the bronze medal with a 96-81 victory over Argentina on Saturday. Gasol averaged 21.3 points and 9.4 rebounds during the worlds. He has a partial fracture in his left foot, and the Grizzlies say he will need surgery. "He's the best player in this tournament. I wanted to win this for him," Jose Calderon, who plays for the Toronto Raptors, said as he held up his gold medal. "We are a team. We had Pau in our minds. I think it was a special day." Felipe Reyes started in Gasol's place and he had 10 points in the first half, one less than he had in the whole tournament -- he was limited to three games because of back problems. Gasol's younger brother, Marc, gave Spain big minutes early in the middle. He had three rebounds in the game's first 17 minutes. He averaged 1.9 coming into Sunday's game. "I was happily surprised by the way my brother grabbed the opportunity he got," Pau Gasol said. "I was very happy for him because he was a big part of the gold medal." Everything went Spain's way as it took a 43-23 halftime lead. Its other stars were playing at their normal level and the bench was playing well above its head. Meanwhile, Greece looked nothing like the team that had received plaudits from around the world for the way it convincingly beat the United States. There was no big push from Greece in the third quarter. Gasol's teammates wouldn't allow it. The lead was 54-34 with 10 minutes to go. It only got bigger. "It was surprising, yes, because the Spanish team was everything around Gasol," Greece forward Konstas Tsartsaris said. "But we see today that the Spanish team is 12 players and not only one. They played excellent defensively and on offense also. They gave a great defensive effort." Gasol came out of the players' tunnel before the game on crutches, wearing his red warmup top and jeans. As he sat on the bench while the teams were warming up, Greece forward Sofoklis Schortsanitis and coach Panagiotis Yannakis came over for visits. He was up and hopping on one foot for each huddle. Players hugged him or slapped hands with him at each timeout. They were winning this game for him. Jorge Garbajosa, who signed with the Raptors this summer, and Juan Carlos Navarro each had 20 points for Spain, which was fourth in 1982. Reyes finished with those 10 points and Marc Gasol grabbed four more rebounds, but their play off the bench was much more than numbers. "To lose your franchise player, even more a great friend like Pau, was a very hard blow," Garbajosa said. "We talked yesterday that if normally we give 100 percent we had to give 150 percent because of Pau's absence." Mihalis Kakiouzis had 17 points for Greece, which finished fourth in 1994 and 1998. This was Europe's third straight world title -- Yugoslavia won in 1998 and 2002 -- and it will have the home continent advantage in 2010 with the tournament in Turkey.Copyright 2006 by The Associated PressLink
is mark gasol, or whatever his name is, any good? i know he has to be good to make spains national team, but is he and nba prospect at all? i was just wondering
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>is mark gasol, or whatever his name is, any good? i know he has to be good to make spains national team, but is he and nba prospect at all? i was just wondering</div>mark gasol, dont you mean pau gasol and by the way pau gasol is already in the nba and he was an all-star this year...oh and garbajosa had a great game during the gold medal game...he filled in for gasol perfectly
Mark Gasol is Pau Gasols brother. He played for the Spain basketball team. He was the last man added to the roster.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (wolverine30 @ Sep 3 2006, 03:39 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>mark gasol, dont you mean pau gasol and by the way pau gasol is already in the nba and he was an all-star this year...oh and garbajosa had a great game during the gold medal game...he filled in for gasol perfectly</div><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TheBigO @ Sep 3 2006, 04:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Mark Gasol is Pau Gasols brother. He played for the Spain basketball team. He was the last man added to the roster.</div>Another ignorant stupid post by wolverine30... honestly, somebody ban him.Pretty impressive though that spain won w/o some of their better players. Teamwork WORKS.
