Viva España

Not too many oddsmakers picked Spain to beat Greece in the World Basketball Championships finals in Saitama last Sunday. After all, Greece was coming off a shocking 101-95 win over the highly-fancied US Dream Team in the semifinals and Spain’s top gun Pau Gasol would sit out the game because of a partial fracture in his left foot. Besides, Greece was the reigning European titleholder and Spain finished the Continental Championships last year in fourth place, the first time Los Jugadores de España fell out of the top three since 1997.

But in a startling turn of events, Spain turned the improbable into reality.

If overconfidence killed the US in losing to Greece, it also killed Greece in losing to Spain.

While Gasol watched from the bench, Spain stood its ground and dismantled the vaunted Greek machine with unforgiving defense.

Greek stars Vasileios Spanoulis and Dimitrios Diamantidis, who combined for 34 points against the US, were held to only eight points together on 3-of-19 from the floor. And 6-9 center Sofoklis Schortsianitis, who erupted for 14 points against the US, managed only a field goal.

Spain proved more than anything else, that in basketball, heart is what counts.

Spanish coach Pepu Hernandez couldn’t believe his good fortune. He took over from Mario Pesquera who piloted Spain to second in the 2003 European Championships, seventh in the 2004 Athens Olympics and fourth in the European Championships last year and hit paydirt in his first assignment with the national team.

Six players from the 2002 World Championships (where Spain wound up fifth), seven from the 2004 Olympics and eight from the 2005 European Championships were retained by Hernandez for the Saitama campaign. The holdovers included Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jose Manuel Calderon, Felipe Reyes, Carlos Jimenez and Jorge Garbajosa. Gasol, one of nine Spanish players drafted in National Basketball Association (NBA) history, was named MVP in Saitama although he sat out Sunday’s finals. There was no doubt Spain wouldn’t have advanced to the championship if not for the 7-1 center from Barcelona. Gasol averaged 21.3 points and 9.4 rebounds in eight games. He shot .631 from the field and posted a double-double in four outings, including 19 points and 11 rebounds in Spain’s 75-74 semifinal win over Olympic champion Argentina.

Gasol was Atlanta’s first round pick and third overall in the 2001 NBA draft. He was traded to Memphis by the Hawks. Other Spanish draftees were Fernando Martin (1985), Jose Antonio Montero (1987), Roberto Duenas (1997), Raul Lopez (2001), Navarro (2002), Alberto Miralles (2004), Fran Vazquez (2005) and Sergio Rodriguez (2006). Martin was the first Spaniard to play in the NBA and suited up for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Rodriguez, 20, was on the team in Saitama. The 6-2 point guard was drafted by Phoenix in the first round last June and traded to Portland.

Garbajosa, 28, is tipped to play with Calderon for Toronto in the coming NBA season. A free agent, he has been a fixture in the Spanish national squad since 2000. The 6-8 power forward hit at a 12.7 clip in Saitama and torched Greece with 6-of-11 triples. Garbajosa compiled 20 points and 10 rebounds in the gold medal game.

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At the 2002 World Championships, Spain lost a 70-62 decision to Germany in the quarterfinals but roared back to stun the US, 81-75, in the consolation match for fifth place. In the preliminaries, Spain beat eventual champion Yugoslavia, 71-69, annihilated Angola, 88-55 and trounced Turkey, 87-64, among others, to serve notice of its emergence as a global hoops power.

And in Athens, Spain defeated Italy, 71-63, humbled eventual champion Argentina, 87-76, trimmed New Zealand, 88-84 and downed China twice, 83-58 and 92-76. Spain bowed to the US, 102-94, in the quarterfinals.

Despite the victory in Saitama, Spain was only third in the latest FIBA (Federation Internationale de Basketball) world ratings behind No. 1 US and No. 2 Argentina.

China was the highest Asian entry at No. 11. The Philippines was a lowly No. 65, outranking No. 66 Thailand, No. 72 Indonesia and No. 73 Singapore. Some Asian countries looking down at the Philippines in the FIBA ladder were No. 24 Lebanon, No. 25 Korea, No. 26 Qatar, No. 28 Japan, No. 40 Chinese-Taipei, No. 41 Saudi Arabia, No. 44 Kuwait, No. 50 Hong Kong, No. 52 Malaysia, No. 56 Kazakhstan and No. 61 United Arab Emirates.

Here are the final standings in the Saitama tournament: No. 1 Spain, No. 2 Greece, No. 3 USA, No. 4 Argentina, No. 5 France, No. 6 Turkey, No. 7 Lithuania and No. 8 Germany. Countries from No. 9 to No. 16, in no order, were Angola, Australia, China, Italy, New Zealand, Nigeria, Serbia and Montenegro and Slovenia. Countries from No. 17 to No. 20 were Brazil, Japan, Lebanon and Puerto Rico. Countries from No. 21 to No. 24 were Panama, Qatar, Senegal and Venezuela.

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How would the Philippines have fared in Saitama? If the Philippines played in Group A instead of Lebanon, it would’ve advanced to the round of 16 with wins over Venezuela and Nigeria. Lebanon beat Venezuela, 90-65, and France, 74-73, but failed to move up because of an inferior quotient. Nigeria walloped Lebanon, 95-72, with former Philippine Basketball Association imports Julius Nwosu (Red Bull) and Gabe Muoneke (Purefoods) in the lineup. Before Lebanon flew to Japan, it lost two exhibition games to the Philippines.

If the Philippines played in Group C instead of Qatar, it would’ve encountered rough sailing to advance. Qatar lost all its five assignments by an average margin of 33.2 points and came closest to a win against Turkey before bowing by seven. Group C was made up of Greece, Turkey, Australia, Brazil, Lithuania and Qatar.

But as Spain proved in the finals and Greece in the semifinals, anything can happen in basketball. National coach Chot Reyes declined to speculate what could’ve transpired in Saitama if the Philippines played but said "we wouldn’t have been embarrassed." As the saying goes, "bilog ang bola." And yes, there is another saying, "bilog ang mundo."