ESP/CRO – Croatia slow out of the gate and lose to Spain

BEIJING (Olympics) – Pau Gasol and Spain built a big first-quarter advantage and used that as a platform for a 72-59 victory against Croatia in the first quarter-final of the men’s basketball tournament at the Olympics.

Gasol had nine of his game-high 20 points in the opening frame as the world champions opened up a 22-11 lead and the Spanish went in front by as many as 24 in the second half before settling for a 13-point triumph.

Spain will next take on the winner of Lithuania’s quarter-final against Olympic hosts China.

"We are happy with the result,” said Gasol, the most valuable player of the 2006 FIBA World Championship who played his 100th game for Spain.

“It was an important win in the quarter-finals and it is something we wanted to do in the Olympics.

“We are where we want to be. Now we must prepare for the semis which is going to be a difficult game for us.”

Spain were criticised for their lack of intensity in their Group B thrashing by gold medal favourites Team USA.

They were focused from the opening tip against Croatia, however, especially on defense with the Balkans team going nearly six minutes with just one point.

“They played aggressive defense, never letting us move the ball easily,” Croatia coach Jasmin Repesa said.

“But we missed many open shots. It's difficult to beat a Spain team when you shoot badly.”

Croatia, playing without injured sharpshooter Marko Popovic for a third successive game, made just one of seven from three-point range in the first half and finished five of 19 (26%).

They were 20 of 53 (38%) from the floor overall compared to Spain’s 26 of 53 (49%).

"I expected us to come out with the defensive intensity that we started with today,” Gasol said.

“If we do that, it means that we take away the pressure from us. It gives us an advantage.

“I’m happy that we are in the semi-finals, but we still have two games left to play. We need to be intense from the start as we were today."

Worryingly for Spain, Jose Manuel Calderon had to leave the game in the fourth quarter with a groin injury.

“He felt a pain,” Garcia Reneses said to FIBA.com. “We don’t know his condition, but we hope to have him available for the semi-finals.”

Calderon said he stopped as a precaution but would have tests on the groin.

He finished with 10 points, making both of his three-pointers, while Felipe Reyes had 13.

Marko Banic scored 15 points to lead Croatia.

Spain out-rebounded Croatia, 36-29 with Gasol pulling down five in each half.

Croatia also suffered without Popovic, and Repesa believes the team would have been more effective with center Mario Kasun, who didn’t play at all this summer.

“I don't like to put any excuses,” Repesa said.

“We started the tournament well but I apologize for how we finished the tournament. We should have played better."

Garcia Reneses, meanwhile, who replaced the hugely popular Pepu Hernandez following his sacking by the Spanish Basketball Federation just several weeks before the Olympics, said: “Today's victory is down to our great defense and a lot of focus.

“That defense lasted for a long time in the game. The offense has been inferior to our defense and that perhaps had to do with the fact we were leading.

“In the end, we made mistakes on many things. We must be on guard in the latter stages of the game.”

Hernandez led Spain to the world title and a silver medal at last year’s EuroBasket.

“It's very important for Spanish basketball to go far in tournaments,” Garcia Reneses said. “We are proud to be in the semi-finals.”

FIBA