Spain trashed Poland 70-68 and got the last ticket for the tournament quarter finals.
With Navarro and Pau Gasol as their ebst player Spain took a large points difference in the end of the first quarter, 23-14 and the game prettymuch finished at that point. Despite desperate tries by their big men Poland could not match up Spain and the score at the end of the first half was 42-26 for Spain.
In the second half Navarro started hot and with his fifth threepointer made it 50-30 for his team. After he made it 58-38 he was withdrawn by Scariolo to the bench. Logan and Fernandez scored two back-to-back threepointers for 69-41. Final score at the end of the third quarter was 71-46. Poland outscored Spain in the last quarter 22-19 but the final score left no doubts about the team who dominated the game, 90-68 to Spain.
POLAND 68-90 SPAIN
Spain: P.Gasol 20, Rudy 7, Ricky 2, Navarro 23 (7/9 3FG), Claver, Reyes 7, Cabezas 2, Lopez, Llull 7, M.Gasol 9, Mumbru 8, Garbajosa 5
Poland: Skibniewski, Roszyk, Chylinski 2, Szubarga 2, Witka 2, Szewczyk, Wojcik 6, Ignerski, Logan 20, Gortat 12 (12 rebounds), Lampe 7, Koszarek 17
Game quotes:
Sergio Scariolo (Spain Coach): "For today's loss the polish players definitely can't blame themselves, it was our players who deserve the credit. We did everything to make our opponents look weak, we played good defense, moved the ball well and had high shooting percentage. And because of improved physical preparation of my players we are able to maintain a high tempo during longer stretches of the games."
Juan Carlos Navarro: "We are delighted with the win, now we need to rest and continue this path we are going on now. We are very happy to be in the Quarter-Finals after all the problems we had before and during this tournament. We will look into France tomorrow and we will try to prepare the best possible way for this game."
Muli Katzurin (Poland Coach): "With Spain playing like that today, we are no competition for them. We tried hard, but the gap was way too big. Maybe in other group we could win some games, but here teams were just better than us. We had various game plans prepared, but on this level of competition it was really hard to execute them properly."
Adam Wójcik: "We were withdrawn and missed many shots from field. We didn't play bad basketball in this tournament. Crucial was the game against Serbia, which put us off our game. We tried to find and optimal solution, but we didn't manage it. We know that expectations were higher. This tournament gave us priceless experience, which is a great capital for the future. It was my last performance. I end my long carrier in national team"
