Unbeaten Argentina turn attention to Semi-Finals

ARGENTINA (FIBA AmeriCup 2017) - The Argentine National Team —Group B hosts in the FIBA AmeriCup 2017 city of Bahia Blanca— ended their group round participation with no loses and in first place. This was a group that played in a special venue full of basketball history in a country where soccer is king. The Osvaldo Casanova Stadium sold out during the tournament's three days: a permanent encouragement for the National Team and a constant acknowledgement to the rest of the teams. It was a venue that breathes basketball history, a venue that breathes basketball.

Coach Sergio Hernández —born in Bahia Blanca analyzed the group: “Although this was a tournament in which we were already qualified (to the Final Four), we set ourselves to be the most competitive team possible. We gave ourselves permission to grow as a team and overcome such an ugly situation such as Luis Scola’s (injury). We knew that he hoped to come back to the team. However, we handled it and used a large 12-player rotation in almost all of the games.”

“Oveja” also talked about the three rivals: “Virgin Islands played more relaxed during the last encounter because they knew that they had qualified. I would've wanted more games like today’s. Venezuela and Canada presented us with challenges that we must learn to overcome as a group that averages 24-years of age. It’s good that these things happen. It’s great to face compact teams. The character that the team portrayed yesterday; as well as the several techniques and tactics. Character’s not the only thing needed to win. Canada forces you to play the pick and roll with the least capable hand.”

Meanwhile, Mar de la Plata native Patricio Garino, who played last season with the NBA’s Orlando Magic, commented: “We demonstrated our identity and essence, something that we were able to do during 3 games. We must keep on working on the defense, but now we must wait for what’s yet to come. We never took for granted our qualification: we came to compete and to win each game, no matter the team before us. This served to get us to know our group better. This is the most important part, because the head's still the same.”

Two of the National Team's rookies were Máximo Fjellerup and Luca Vildoza. The Shooting Guard said: “I'm happy with the task my Coach gave me. I played a lot of minutes during the last game and now we're waiting to go to Cordoba. I felt as a local at Bahia. It’s not every day that the Casanova is so full during the Finals.” On the other hand, Point Guard Luca Vildoza added: “I was waiting for the moment to debut and I'm very happy. A truly hard game is coming our way, and we’ll go with our head held high to take Argentina to the highest spot.”

FIBA