2023-08-21 13:57:45
The dream of the Argentine national team, although flimsy due to the hazardous path that would also have been ahead of him, ended definitively in Santiago del Estero, where the Bahamas defeated him 82-75 and following 24 years, since Sydney 2000, the sky-blue basketball and white will not be in an Olympic Games.
The final of the Pre-Olympic Pre-qualifier had three first quarters in which the illusion of those led by Pablo Prigioni had a reason to exist, since in the first they prevailed 26-22, tied 42-42 in the second and went back to the front 63 -59 in the third.
But in the fourth and with their three NBA on court, the Bahamians imposed conditions, they dried up Argentina in attack, since they barely scored 12 points, while they effectively boosted their offensive appetite translated into 23 goals.
The great figure at the end was guard Eric Gordon (Phoenix Suns), who scored three consecutive -and almost identical- triples in the last three minutes, a run that started with the Bahamas down 71-73 and up 80-75. Gordon was the great figure of the Bahamas in the tournament, quite a regulatory curiosity since he had already played a FIBA World Cup for the United States.
This, contrasting with what was done by its two top figures in the first half, when Facundo Campazzo delivered no less than 11 assists and scored 8 points, while Gabriel Deck scored 14, seemed a lot like the end of the cycle that will need another laborious construction. from the very foundations to try to return to being.
It is that under the management of a historical reference like Pablo Prigioni the national team ended up losing all the places where it had stomped in recent decades.
First it was the defeat once morest the Dominican Republic of Néstor “Che” García in Mar del Plata that prevented him from going to the next World Cup, and now once morest the Bahamas, another Caribbean and also at home, in Santiago del Estero, which sidelined him from the Games Paris 2024 Olympics.
At least the Bahamas will have another chance in the Pre-Olympic that will be played from July 2 to 7 of next year to continue dreaming of Paris 2024, something that Argentina lost this Sunday.
Regarding the scoresheets, the Argentine scorer was Gabriel Deck with 21 points, followed by Carlos Delfino with 15 and Facundo Campazzo with 14 (and 17 assists). Between the three historical ones they added 50 of the 75 points of the team. The triple shot to which the National Team has been betting so much was his own condemnation, since he accumulated 8 hits out of 31 attempts in the match (25.8% effectiveness).
For Delfino, the last active member of the Golden Generation of Athens 2004 at the age of 40, the dream of being an Olympian has come to an end.
For the Bahamas, Gordon added 27 points (6/7 on 3-pointers) to make up for the bad night of his NBA colleagues, Buddy Hield (15 points, 2/11 on 3-pointers and 7 turnovers) and DeAndre Ayton (10 points, 5/14 on field goals, 21 rebounds and 3 turnovers).
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