Photo: Feb.es

Spain’s preparation for the Eurobasket Championship later this month is going excellent, however, the team remains cautious and maintaining a high level of play until they reach their ultimate goal.

GOLD MEDAL

For Spain, Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro led the team is scoring and on the leadership end as well. Spain started the game with different line up to start the game (Calderón,Juan Carlos Navarro,Fernando San Emeterio, Felipe Reyes and Marc Gasol). Testing the line-ups and shaking things up for the game was essential for Spain. Nothing could stop the starters as they opened the game with a 27-10 lead over Bulgaria and never looked back and finished 96-59 over Bulgaria.

Next up for Spain is against Lithuania on August 18th in Luthania.

Box Score

SPAIN 96 (27) (28) (17) (24): Calderón (6),Juan Carlos Navarro (19),Fernando San Emeterio (0), Felipe Reyes (8), Marc Gasol (6),Pau Gasol (15), Rudy Fernández (2), Ricky Rubio (5), Víctor Claver (2),Sergio Llull (17), Serge Ibaka (7), Carlos Suárez (8) y Víctor Sada (3).

BULGARIA, 59 (10) (17) (16) (16): Rowland (9),  Videnov (15), Marinov (2), K. Ivanov (8), Georgiev (0),D. Ivanov (7),  Kostov (6), Yanev (4), Velikov (0), Banev (0), Varbanov (0) y Gruev (2).

View Game Video Clips

Pau Gasol was voted by NBA coaches as a reserve in the 2011 NBA All-Star Game. The game will be held in Los Angeles this year. Gaso will be playing with teammate Kobe Bryant.

EAST                              WEST
Derrick Rose                 Chris Paul
Dwyane Wade              Kobe Bryant
Lebron James              Kevin Durant
Amar’e Stoudemire     Carmelo Anthony
Dwight Howard            Kevin Love

Pau Gasol is having the best season in his career. During the first round votes by the public, Gasol has been voted on the NBA West All-Star team as a starter. That is not a surprise at all after he is playing well on both ends of the floor and averaging: 19.8pts, 11 rebounds and 4.3 assist per game. During the start of the season while Kobe Bryant was hurt, Gasol was the teams leading scorer.

Pau Gasol was named FIBA Player of the Year for a second consecutive year. After playing last night against his former ACB team against the Lakers, Pau Gasol was back in this hometown.

His hometown was able to witness another special moment as FIBA Europe President Olafur Rafnsson honoured one of the best players in the World and 2009 FIBA Europe Player of the Year winner, Pau Gasol.

Beating all of his opponents in the FIBA Europe Player of the Year fan and expert vote, Gasol received what is rightfully his in front of 15,000 excited fans in the Palau Sant Jordi.

“Pau is a role model for all of us,” said FIBA Europe Secretary General Nar Zanolin.

“His work ethic is tremendous and the passion he shows playing for his country makes him a true Spanish hero,” added FIBA Europe President Olafur Rafnsson who was at hand Thursday night to present the award.

Gasol was delighted about the honour of being the first to win this important award twice in a row.

The 2.14m forward-center, who is the reigning European champion, the EuroBasket MVP and a NBA champion, decided to rest this summer after playing for Spain year after year and appearing in more than 88 games with the Angeles Lakers last season.

The European basketball community will hope to see Gasol back in the Spanish jersey for the EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania, where Spain will look to defend their title.

NBA Fan Zone will visit Barcelona before the game on October 7th between FC Barcelona vs Lakers.

On, Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 October at the Avenida Maria Cristina Barcelona a wide range of leisure activities related to basketball known as NBA Fan Zone.

The NBA Fan Zone is a free outdoor festival to complement the game played, Thursday October 7th at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Regal FC Barcelona and Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA Fan Zone boasts approximately 3,000 square feet and include appearances by many current players from the Lakers, NBA champion, and NBA Legend James Worthy and Bruce Bowen of the cheerleaders over the Lakers.

Fan Zone is designed in a fun way, the format is ideal for families with areas of shooting, ski mates and video games. The Fan Zone offers activities for all ages as the shooting area 360, the inflatable NBA 3×3 tracks and a track full of different exhibits.

Date: October Wednesday 6th and Thursday 7 October 2010

Time: Wednesday October 6th from 10am to 20pm and Thursday 7 October from 10am to 14pm

Location: Avenida de la Reina Maria Cristina (Barcelona)

NOTE: The Lakers just lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves in London in the O2 Arena. Kobe Bryant did not play,however is expected to play, but play injured on Friday against FC Barcelona

Pau Gasol may not have started the game like he wanted, but he surely finished strong to help the LAKERS during the stretch by scoring 19pts and 18 rebounds in the finals of the NBA 2010 Championship. Tears came down Gasol’s face in unbelief of what happened last night and a year after his first NBA Title.

Pau  is known as the Spanish Sensation

Pau Gasol Post Game Quotes:

We hustled .. shows you how much this team fought to win a championship again.

It’s very sweet.. It feels amazing to win a championship. It definitely adds up when you beat Boston.

Back to back championships is something pretty pretty tough to do..We to enjoy embrace it and have a beautiful summer.

Post Game Interview with Gasol

Pau Gasol confirmed with the Spain Basketball Federation his future absence at the 2010 World Champions in Turkey later this summer. Pau Gasol was noted a stating that:

“I am convinced that the National Team wil continue to enjoy the maximum expectations by having great players, there for the options are true and possible.”

View Paul Gasol’s website: www.paugasol.com

I will try to be with the team as long as possible to offer my full support. In conclusion, I know that everyone knows my commitment with this team, and I regret this decision, but in the last four years I’m probably one of the players who have played more games in the world, having reached the finals of all the disputed contests with the Lakers and Spain. Now my body is calling for a temporary relief.

In the future I have all the hope of being part of this team that I love, and hope to be again part of the national team, our team.

“I have no doubts that Pau will not be there, regardless of the play-offs,” Marc said.
“It has been 12 or 13 consecutive years with the national team and without any stop, with the exception of the EuroBasket in Belgrade.”

Playing in the NBA during the regular season (80+ games) and playoffs (30+) is a lot for a player and during Gasol’s 10-12 years on the Spain’s Mens Basketball National team he has never rested. It is his time to take a rest if they want him available for the 2012 Basketball Olympics in London.

Pau  Gasol contributed 13 points for the West in there lost to the East by 2pts (141-139)

This honestly comes to no surprise for anyone that Pau Gasol was named player of the year for FIBA. Gasol has lead his Spanish National Teams to several important medals and accomplishments during the past 10 years. In the NBA, he is the top foreign player at all positions. This is the second year in a row that Gasol was awarded the player of the Year, similiar to Ricky Rubio as youth player of the year.

Spain has taken three of the four awards of FIBA:

• Player of the Year (Men) – Pau Gasol
• Youth Player of the Year (Male) – Ricky Rubio
• Youth Player of the Year (Female) – Alba Torrens

Below is the public ranking of players for the award!

• Pau Gasol 433 9,815 0,335
• Dirk Nowitzki 94 5,370 0,078
• Vassilis Spanoulis 63 1,903 0,049
• Milos Teodosic 60 4,058 0,050
• Erazem Lorbek 48 7,046 0,046
• Rudy Fernandez 48 4,022 0,042
• Juan Carlos Navarro 46 3,892 0,040
• Tony Parker 44 2,011 0,036
• Hidyet Turkoglu 31 4,479 0,030
• Ersan Ilyasova 21 4,525 0,022
• Nikola Pekovic 24 1,936 0,021
• Marcin Gortat 9 8,837 0,020
• Novica Velickovic 10 4,783 0,015
• Ioannis Bouroussis 12 1,417 0,011
• Igor Rakocevic 3 2,024 0,005
• Lior Eliyahu 0 1,032 0,002