Wednesday, 30.08.2006	posted by Jeff Taylor 05:45 pm
Category: FIBA World Championship

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QUE SERA, SERA

SAITAMA (FIBA World Championship) – It's going to be very tough watching Spain or Argentina lose in a semi-final of the FIBA World Championship.

I love the players on both of these teams and I've enjoyed watching them play here in Saitama.

And that includes Argentina's Andres Nocioni, who after scoring 21 points in an 83-58 mauling of Turkey on Tuesday said: “We wanted to eat them.”

Nocioni, of course, was talking about the mindset needed to beat a team like Turkey who against all expectations reached the quarter-finals with a `run-through-a-brick-wall-if-necessary' approach in its earlier games.

Fabricio Oberto looked at me after that game like he was my best friend.

Luis Scola tapped me on the shoulder as he left the changing room and smiled.

I have written about these players before, and I've interviewed them. They're just nice fellas.

I want them to advance.

But I like Spain, too.

Did you see them in the first half against Lithuania? The suffocating, aggressive defense, Rudy Fernandez's two-handed reverse jams off alley-oop passes from Sergio Rodriguez.

These guys are studs, and there is not an arrogant bone in their bodies.

Rudy is 100% basketball. Both of his parents played the game, and his sister, Marta, will represent in Brazil at the FIBA World Championship for Women.

The shackles that appeared to restrain Rudy at EuroBasket 2005 in Belgrade are now off.

The player says Pepu Hernandez has given him a confidence that he did not have before in the national side.

Then there is Marc Gasol factor. He is the last man to make the team after Fran Vazquez pulled out with a back injury and boy has he done well. This summer could be the making of Marc Gasol, who received so little playing time the past couple of seasons at Barcelona.

A lot of these players are doing the NBA proud. Oberto, Manu Ginobili, Nocioni, Pau Gasol (Marc's older and more famous brother) and Jose Manuel Calderon are class acts on the court, and off it.

I do not want to see either of these teams lose.

Que gane el mejor! (may the best team win)