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Eurobasket: Navarro’s “masterpiece” puts Spain into 2012 Olympics

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By Chris Sheridan

KAUNAS, Lithuania — “He was like a maestro today. He was like a picture in the Louvre or something like that — just beautiful. Juan Carlos, you’ve got to recognize, is one of the artists of European basketball.”

It was a DaVinci of a quote that Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo delivered Friday, about as eloquent of an assessment a man could deliver after what he witnessed from his own personal Michelangelo.

Juan Carlos Navarro scored 19 points in the third quarter to single-handedly break open a game that kept staying surprisingly close, finishing with 35 points on 13-for-23 shooting to lead the Spanish national team into the 2012 London Olympics with a 92-80 victory over Macedonia in the semifinals of EuroBasket.

It is a shame that American audiences never got to see more of Navarro, the shooting guard who spent one season with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2007-08 and made 156 3-pointers — two short of the NBA record for rookies — before deciding the NBA was not to his liking, opting to return to Barcelona to finish his career in the ACB (Spanish League).

U.S. audiences have only caught glimpses of him since, one of them coming when he moved over and became the emergency point guard for Spain in the gold medal game of the 2008 Olympics against the United States after an injury kept Jose Calderon out of the game and foul trouble forced Ricky Rubio to the bench.

If folks in America were fortunate enough to get a glimpse of him in this semifinal, they’d gain an enhanced appreciation for a player whose all-around offensive game is one of the best — if not the best — in all of Europe.

“He was out of this planet. He was on his own cloud, and he is a joy to have as a person and as a player. I can tell you this from the inside,” Scariolo said.

Spain needed something big from somebody after going into the locker room training 45-44 against the upstart team of the tournament. They were not getting anything on the defensive end from anybody as Macedonia shot 54 percent in a back-and-forth first half in which there were five ties and 15 lead changes.

It was 58-58 midway through the third quarter when Marc Gasol scored inside, Vojdan Stojanovski missed for Macedonia and Navarro took a pass from Rudy Fernandez and buried a 3-pointer.

The separation had begun.

Two free throws by Navarro made it a six-point game, a 3-pointer with 1:25 left made it 68-60, and another 3 by the player nicknamed “LaBomba” increased Spain’s lead to 71-62 with 38 seconds left in the third period.

The finishing touch to the masterpiece came after Macedonia’s American point guard, Bo McCalebb (25 points) scored back-to-back buckets to make it an eight-point game. Navarro then hit a long 2-pointer, a pair from the line and a left-handed runner that was a 9.9 on a degree of difficulty scale of 10, and Spain was ahead 90-80 with 1:19 left.

Not since last summer in Istanbul when I watched Kevin Durant put the U.S. “B-Deem” team on his back had I witnessed a player put his team on his shoulders and carry them to their goal.  

“They are very different players, but they are the same in terms of talent and having the ability to score easily,” said Spain’s Serge Ibaka, who is spending his first summer with the Spanish national team after having spent the previous two seasons alongside Durant in Oklahoma City.

Despite the loss, Macedonia has qualified for the pre-Olympic tournament next July that will determine the final three teams for the London Games. That’s something Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, Italy and Germany — five of the top teams in Europe — did not do. 

“We didn’t listen to anyone who was telling us we were going to have an easy time, and that is what helped us to this win,” Scariolo said. “We didn’t play too nervous, a little bit, maybe, but then, as I said, Juan Carlos made his masterpiece.”

Aside from Navarro’s 35 points, Pau Gasol had 22 points and 17 rebounds, and Ibaka scored 11 and Marc Gasol had 11 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks. Also, Ricky Rubio broke his 0-for-Lithuania drought from 3-point range (he had missed his first dozen 3s in this tournament) by making a shot from behind the arc in the second quarter. He finished with five points, seven rebounds and four assists.

 

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  117. yes steve, he did leave but hes a lil bitch that cant survive in the nba so one less scum who diluted the nba with his single-faceted play. no need to import a kyle korver.

  118. With all due respect Chris its the fukkin EUROBASKET against MACEDONIA. GIVE ME A FUKIN BREAK MAN. This is almost as bad as the d-league. JC Navarro was on the Grizzlies and only put up 10 pts a game on horrible shooting and that was only cuz he jacked up 5 3’s a game. hE LEFT THE NBA CUZ HIS TERRIBLE PLAY WAS EXPOSED IN A REAL LEAGUE. You dont see people in Premier League Soccer marvel over MLS players’ performances. JC is undoubtedly a talented player but a masterpiece in Eurotrash standards cant compare to the nba. How the fuk does Chris Kaman play for Germany, Bo McCaleb for Macedonia, or Ibaka for SPAIN?!?! And the list goes on. The only real Euro players that can play is a very short list – Pau and Marc Gasol, Ginobili (Argentina yes I know), Gallo, Dirk, AK47, and a few on a very talented french team. Please dont be so liberal with the word masterpiece even if its not your words, dont support it by writing about it. I hope the basketball community agrees with me…

    • I couldn’t have said it better myself. I love the line “You dont see people in Premier League Soccer marvel over MLS players’ performances” – that sums it right up. Thank you

    • you couldn’t be a bigger moron even if you took particular classes from charlie sheen. navarro had 11 points a game coming off the bench as a rookie. shooting over 36% from 3 and playing out of position half of the time because that team had no point guard whatsoever. give me a list of nba players that score 11 points a game as rookies and don’t start. i will wait… navarro is the best pure scorer in european basketball and has been for the past 10 years. the only thing funnier than your ignorance is the fact that you put gallo (not even better than bargnani on italy, which says it all really…) on that list and then said the nba shouldn’t import a kyle korver. PRICELESS. don’t worry, navarro will burn your pretty “very talented french team” on sunday, maybe then you will sing another tune (you won’t because you couldn’t tell a good basketball player from a floor mat), but i will sure enjoy his new masterpiece (this time covered in gold).

      • HE JACKED UP 5 3S A GAME YOU IDIOT. CUZ U KNOW AS A 27-YEAR OLD ROOK HE WAS GONA GET SOOOO MUCH BETTER AND DROP 25 A GAME EVENTUALLY RITE??? And the reason Spains team is such a favorite is because of the addition of Ibaka. The 3-headed monster of the gasols and Ibaka is ridiculous. How the fuk can Ibaka be eligible for the Spanish Team. He has no real tie to the country. At least Joakim Noah is half french. Yes I left out Bargnani and Scola since I wrote that in 2 mins. HE SCORED 35 AGAINST MMMAAACCEEEDDDOOONNIIIAAA U DUM FUK. There is no such thing as a masterpiece against Euro competition. D I hope u enjoy watching EUROBASKET GARBAGE to your hearts content. I’ll cure the ignorance one by one starting with you.

        • because at 27 player who are NEW to a league don’t get better right? i mean, marc gasol is 26 and he will get better stats next year than he did this year, again you can quote me on that one, like you know, saying navarro would lit up your lovely french girlfriends. LOL ibaka at least lived in spain, and he became a bball player here, learning to love the game and the country. noah is a joke, parker is belgian (no french blood either) but learned how to play in france. same with chris kaman, a mockery of the rules, but we don’t care, we just win, no matter the sport. and i won’t go into non-americans that played for the usa. list is too long. Euro basket is getting there, heck with the lockout it will get even better, enjoy watching 18 year old boys jacking up contested 30 footers next year loser. and how can an ignorant like you cure ignorance? oh, i know, killing yourself!. LOL, you’re such a loser, enjoy the drew league bro, it’s madz skillzzzz bro.

  119. Didn’t Navarro leave Memphis after Pau Gasol got traded? I thought he would have stayed had Pau still been with the Grizz.

    • Another reason Navarro left was because he didn’t speak English so he didn’t feel comfortable enough.

    • Yeah, you´re right. Navarro would have stayed with Pau cause they are best friends from teen years. The main problem and because Navarro leave NBA, was a killer clause with his european team that make him play absolutely free in his rookie season. The Pau trade and the little money he have made in sophomore season were the reasons for his comeback to Spain

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