NBA player-laden teams Spain and Italy meet during the third day of Group B competitions in the 2015 EuroBasket. The match will be held at the at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin, Germany on September 8, Tuesday.
Spain is having an up-and-down tournament so far as they lost their opener against a tough Serbian squad, 80-70, behind the exploits of Minnesota Timberwolves forward Nemanja Bjelica, who led the team with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists.
Chicago Bulls center Pau Gasol led Spain with 16 points and 5 boards while his Bulls teammate Nikola Mirotić added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Still, it was not enough to keep them from enduring the first upset loss of the competitions, as per RealGM.
Head coach Sergio Scariolo's men managed to bounce back in the game against Turkey by pulling off a huge 104-77 triumph.
Italy also started the tourney with a 1-1 record after dropping its opener against Turkey, 89-87, while overcoming Iceland in its second game on Sunday, 71-64.
Small forward Alessandro Gentile topscored for the Italians with 21 points as the twin tower duo of Andrea Bargnani and Danilo Gallinari only played limited minutes for head coach Simone Pianigiani, via EuroBasket 2015's official website.
Italy is expected to have a hard time against the vaunted Spanish frontcourt of Gasol and Mirotić, although Bargnani and Gallinari are also NBA-experienced bigs that can certainly pour in the points and defend when needed if they are 100 percent available on Tuesday.
It will be a close game as both frontlines will try to impose themselves on each other. However, Gasol and company will hold on with the lead until the final buzzer sounds.
Prediction: Spain wins, 87-83
Spain starting five: Pau Gasol (C), Nikola Mirotić (PF), Rudy Fernández (SF), Pau Ribas (SG), Sergio Llull (PG)
Italy starting five: Andrea Bargnani (C), Danilo Gallinari (PF), Luigi Datome (SF), Marco Belinelli (SG), Andrea Cinciarini (PG)