Three defeats, a level from high to low but always within a dynamic with few lights to stand out … The passage of the Argentina team for Las Vegas, at least in terms of their friendly, did not leave the best balance sheet. Sergio Hernández’s team was far from his best level and ended his stage of blank matches with a tight fall to Australia and taking two beatings to Nigeria and the United States. Certainly far from ideal, but worrisome? Just do a little memory …
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“We know each other. There are no preparation or friendly matches in which we play well, we need official matches.. I don’t know, it’s our tradition. Even with the Golden Generation, before winning the medal, we lost all the preparation matches “, recognized Sergio Hernandez in a press conference after taking on Team USA, making clear that national ‘custom’ of not standing out in friendlies (it happened even before the 2019 China World Cup).
“Still, we don’t feel good today. We have good chemistry, we love each other very much, we work together, coaches and players. We are happy, but we don’t play well. We know this and we will try to find our best form in the next 13 days. We have that time to face Slovenia. Today, as a team, not as a human group, we don’t feel very well “, Oveja also clarified at the time of diagnosis heading to the final stretch on the way to debut on 7/26 against Luka Doncic’s men.
We go with five observations of what the friendlies of the national team left, which are nothing more than that. Matches in the middle of a preparation that, for Argentina, is usually more indoors than what can be seen in a game.
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Little offensive volume
Hernández’s approach is to try to find a dynamic team that plays fast and knows how to find the advantages to create good quality pitches. Well, practically little and nothing of it was seen in these friendlies. Taking some sparkles against Australia, Argentina was a predictable team, without aggressiveness, ideas or volume in attack, which forced many more individual actions than it tried to connect collectively.
His records are graphs of how poor the offensive level was: 78.3 average points, with 39.4% from the field, 30.3% triples and more losses (17.6) than assists (14.3).
The level and use of the bases
Part of the explanation for the low volume of play in attack starts from the level of the guards: Facundo Campazzo was not the same as always at the time of creation, and so much Vildoza What Laprovittola they worked more like shooters: Luca took 19 of his 26 field goals from long range (42.1% correct), and Nico took 20 of 27 attempts (20% correct). And in the combined, between the latter two they accumulated 8 assists versus 12 losses. Little for two of the team’s leading playmakers.
Now, far from doubting them. Facu changes the chip when the official action begins, and it will undoubtedly be the same game engine as always when the Olympic debut against Slovenia arrives, and both Luca and Lapro come to stand out in Europe. It was also interesting to see how Sheep sought to combine them in various passages of the preparation (Hence, in part, this greater tendency to triple is explained). Beyond the percentages, both are proven shooters and come from great tasks in the World Cup with Argentina.
The defense, disconnected
Allow 96.3 points in three games, beyond their friendly factor, is synonymous with the fact that the defense did not work. Except in some passages against Australia, in the rest it was seen a team surpassed on its own side of the field. Nigeria shattered with their physical power and the United States displayed all their individual offensive talent (Given that, very few teams can have a solution, of course).
The good side of this is that, again, it is just a preparation that does not define the final diagnosis. After, the defense has a lot of desire, desire, intensity and focus, and Argentina needs the official competition to reach its top in those sections, as defined by Hernández. It is worth remembering that this team, two years ago, was perhaps questioned about its defensive capacity after a weak step in its preparation for France and after a duel even against Japan, an inferior rival. And a few days after those questions, he ended up becoming runner-up in the world, defensively taming two elite rivals like Serbia and France.
Duck Garino, one of the good news
Following his knee ligament injury in November 2019, The Mar del Plata played just 10 games, all in a complex 2020-2021 from the individual with Zalgiris, with other physical complications that questioned his state of form prior to Tokyo 2020. But the doubts, in his case, seem to be completely erased. To the point that probably what Pato showed is, individually, one of the most positive aspects of the whole preparation, for many reasons.
First, because he withstood the fact of playing three games in four days without major problems (19.3 minutes on average). Second, because in those meetings, beyond some lack of rhythm and logical timing of inactivity, he showed glimpses of what he is for the team: one of the pillars for his work as a defender and worker. The best passages of the preparation, against Australia, coincided with his best task, and the +21 in 20 minutes in that match defines its impact. Offensively, it is to highlight how well he looked with his launch, especially on a firm footing, racking up 3-6 on triples in these games.
But yours exceeds the numerical. He is one of the most prominent when it comes to intangibles and silent work, and he quickly made it clear in this preview, confirming a remarkable ability to empower themselves when dressed in light blue and white. The former Orlando Magic is recovered and ready to give everything in a tournament that has had a special objective for a long time.
The freshness of Leandro Bolmaro
The friendlies allow us to see more individual issues than collective issues to a greater extent, and another good news was the incorporation of Bolmaro into the group. The young man from Barcelona, whose Draft rights belong to the Minnesota Timberwolves, It has had very interesting flashes for offering a share of freshness and impudence in the rotation. Reliable in the transfer, intense back and with personality to create from the dribble.
Average 6.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.0 steals in 13.0 minutes in these games, with some very interesting actions that show its quality and potential. At 20, it seems like a fixed Sheep option for the 12 who will end up going to Tokyo 2020.
The opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the NBA or its organizations.