Olympics: the basketball team beats Japan and still dreams | Against the ropes, Argentina responded and awaits a rival for the quarterfinals

Argentina’s basketball team won the triumph they so badly needed to stay alive at the Olympics and advance to the quarter-finals, where they face Australia or France. It was 97-77 against Japan this Sunday morning, with very good performances in the first and last quarters to take third place in the group against an opponent who also had a chance to qualify.

Those led by Sergio “Oveja” Hernández were forced to win to have an extra life in the contest after worrying initial drops with Slovenia and Spain. With 4 points and a goal difference of -8, Argentina was one of the best two thirds to make it through the phase, with Germany (-16) and ahead of the eliminated Czech Republic (-49). To meet your next rival, we will have to wait for the end of the group stage with the duel between the Slovenes and the Spaniards from 5.20 am and the draw that follows.

Campazzo and Scola were not alone

The albiceleste relief in the Saitama Super Arena came from the hand of several high performances, reinforced by the very weak Japanese work of Julio Lamas. Facundo Campazzo was the best pulling the strings of the match and finished with 17 points (0/2 in doubles, 5/9 in triples and 2/3 in free), 7 rebounds and 11 assists. While the top scorer turned out -when not- Luis Scola, with 23 units (4/13 in doubles and 5/8 in triple) and 10 rebounds.

But also several actors had a real match, starting with Nicolás Brussino, who took the place of the injured Patricio Garino in the starting five. The Santa Fe added 8 points (1/3 doubles and 2/5 triples), 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Other highlights were Marcos Delia (14 points, 7 rebounds) and Gabriel Bridge (16 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists).

A little pain

Anyway, The triumph of the national team was not a mere formality. At halftime, the advantage was only 8 units and, after an alarming start to the third quarter, he became 4. Of course, the difference in hierarchy between the two castings was something difficult to compensate for for the Japanese, who suffered from the poor performance of their great figure, the NBA. . Rui Hachimura (13 points, 5/13 in doubles, 1/4 in triple, 4 losses).

Argentina presented their best runs at the start and at the end, where they took 18 of the 20 points ahead (26-16 the first quarter; 32-24 the last). This is where a very comfortable Campazzo was seen, connecting with Delía – serving him the ball under the hoop – and Scola, with many more variations in the selection game and thus driving the Japanese crazy for closure.

Points to improve

Obviously The Selection’s dependence on long-range shooting seems non-negotiable. This time the triplicate balance was 39% effective (14 converts out of 36 attempts, with 10/17 between Campazzo and Scola), much better than 25 percent of previous matches (15/61). When the team insists on throwing beyond context, the worst of their game is seen, with no movement of the ball and with rushed shots with the mark overhead.

At the top, the defense that was a hallmark of an author in China’s 2019 runner-up is still not a guarantee. In several passages of the game against Japan, the stay was alarming at the tactics of the five perimeter of the Japanese and even forced the occasional time out from Hernández to wake up his team. “Are we in a star game? “, He launched to explain the defensive fragility.

What showed signs of life against Japan was self-esteem, either to go in search of inaccessible balloons or to recover others by going head down on the ground, as with Deck and Scola’s double fly which ended in a Campazzo bomb to practically doom the story at the end. And the detail is not minor, since with the soul on the surface, the Selection is still a candidate.

Wink in the preview

The day had started in an unbeatable way for the national team, since they needed – yes or yes – a victory for the United States over the Czech Republic and, if possible, a victory – also voluminous – of Australia over Germany. Both results were given: the North Americans won by 119-85 while the Oceanians won by 89-76. And Argentina did not finally miss these winks of fate.