Eurobasket 2001 Spain took the bronze

The EuroBasket 2001 was held in Turkey, and Spain arrived with the generation of the golden boys as new (Juan Carlos Navarro played since the Sydney Olympics) to try to bring back a medal home. And what if they succeeded.

Spain came from the Eurobasket 1999 with a silver, losing the final against Italy, so I wanted to play a great role in Turkey. The system was not the actual competition. So there was no second group stage. The 16 teams were divided into groups of 4, where only the first to reach the quarter-finals automatically. The second and third cross-faced to complete the other four finalists.

Spain was drawn in Group B along with Slovenia, Latvia and the host Turkey. To cover the first two clashes without problems, but we lost 79-84 against the Turks, who have lost would have been plunged into a three-way tie which could have fallen eliminated.

Thus, Spain had to face as a second group, the difficult challenge of winning over Israel to be in the quarterfinals. And it was not easy, but the national team players, a pineapple that was born in European and that would last to this day, winning 71-67 to Israel with Pau Gasol in stellar plan, demonstrating why it was a crack with Barcelona and why he was chosen No. 3 in the NBA.

The fight for the medals was close, but first had to win a tough nut to crack, Russia. I still remember those steals Lucio Angulo gave us victory, or those final free throws by Pau Gasol. Spain eased into the top four of the continent along with Germany, Turkey and Yugoslavia powerful.

Precisely against them we had to face in the semifinals, and the dream faded, losing 78-65. Turkey beat Germany and the fight for third place won the bronze.