OLYM – Rodriguez lives for the moment

LONDON (Olympics) - Sergio Rodriguez has had a rollercoaster career.

It’s most definitely on the way back up right now.

The point guard, who chose to return to Spain before the 2010-11 campaign and play for Real Madrid following a frustrating four-year spell in the NBA, made his Olympic debut in Sunday’s win over China and played again in Tuesday’s 82-70 victory over Australia.

He was involved in the most exciting play of the game in the second half, pushing the ball quickly up the floor before delivering a perfect alley-oop pass to Serge Ibaka in traffic. Ibaka slammed it home.

"It has been great,” Rodriguez said to FIBA.com, “a great Olympic experience for me. I’m looking forward to moving on in the competition.”

Everyone understands what Rodriguez’s job in the team is.

He is a spark off the bench, a player who comes in to speed up the game.

“My role here is to try to change the tempo of the game,” he said, “with the unit that we are getting from the bench, we have to try to run a little bit, be more aggressive defensively and that is the work we have to do.”

Spain didn’t have it all their own way against Australia, who led 19-14 at the end of the first quarter.

"We have played against Australia twice in our preparation and they were a very tough and aggressive team,” Rodriguez said.

“They knew our play and have good players.

“At the beginning, it was kind of difficult because they had a good team and also the time we played was tough for us.”

Spain had to cope with injuries during the preparations, with Juan Carlos Navarro, Rudy Fernandez and Marc Gasol all bothered by injuries.

The Spanish players knew they could improve on their performance against China, and they also recognized that Australia would be very difficult opponents because of their efforts on opening day when they lost a tight game.

"We were wary of playing Australia because they played very well against Brazil two days ago and I think this win is going to give us more confidence,” Rodriguez said.

“We are getting better.

"We have to keep getting better every game, every minute that we play and try to think step by step.”

It remains to be seen how much EuroBasket 2011 MVP Navarro will be able to contribute.

He didn’t dress for Tuesday’s game, but wore jeans and sat on the bench.

Navarro has been bothered by plantar fasciitis and that has led to a back problem.

That makes Rodriguez even more important because he can create off the dribbling, make terrific passes and even score.

But Rodriguez said of the Barcelona star: "Juan Carlos is key for us.

“We know it’s nothing serious, but he has to recover a little bit.

“He will be ready for the next game.”

For Spain, this is an important summer for many reasons.

One of them is that younger players like the 26-year-old Rodriguez, 24-year-old Sergio Llull, 23-year-old Victor Claver and 22-year-old Serge Ibaka are playing a lot of minutes.

It bodes well for the future.

"We have a great team,” Rodriguez said.

“With young players, with players that have been here for a long time and we have to mix that.

“Every time that we play, it's great for us."

FIBA