Spain beat the Bahamas in a duel that took them straight to the Olympic Games. Their rivals were left with a bitter taste in their mouths: a country of less than half a million inhabitants that would have achieved a historic feat that ultimately did not happen. Eric Gordon, one of the stars of the Bahamian team, was not satisfied with the result. And he spoke about the referees after the match, making it very clear that he was not happy with what happened: “Obviously it was a very tough match. You have to give Spain credit because they are a great team, but it is simply difficult to understand when both teams are fighting very hard to win that one team reaches the bonus in every quarter throughout the match and the other only does it once or twice.”
The NBA player, who was James Harden’s teammate at the Rockets, didn’t stop there: “In such a physical game… It’s hard for me to say that they really played better than us. They won the game, I give them that, they’re a good team, but I just don’t like to see the discrepancy in the free throws we had. They shot twice as much. And we’re a team that attacks the rim. It’s hard to understand this difference,” he said. Spain shot 25 free throws and the Bahamas only had 13 opportunities, in addition to spending a lot of time in bonus. Something that for Gordon, who ended up injured after crashing into an advertising sign on a drive, was differential.
Buddy Hield moves in the same vein
Another of those who criticized the refereeing was Buddy Hield, who said that this was the main reason for the defeat: “I know we are in Spain. It is what it is,” said the shooter.
Beyond that, Spain managed to overcome a very difficult pre-Olympic tournament supported by its fans at La Fonteta in Valencia. It overcame the group stage with a few doubts, narrowly defeated Finland in the semi-finals and also the Bahamas in the final. In a very physical match, full of fights under the basket and with defence taking precedence over attack. And also in which they had more opportunities than their rivals from the free throw line. It doesn’t matter: Spain won. And Gordon (who finished the match with 15 points and a great effort), who is approaching 35 years of age, does not seem like he will be able to qualify the Bahamas for the Olympic Games. A dream that will surely come true in the future, but hardly with the naturalised player as the protagonist. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>
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2024-07-08 07:17:30
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