Spanish Dream Team Is a Basketball Power

Five NBA Players Make It the Squad To Beat at the European Championship

MADRID, Sept. 12 -- There is no better indication of Spain's new stature as a basketball power than the huge Nike posters in nearly every Metro stop here. With menacing-looking teammates surrounding him, center Pau Gasol points his index finger assertively to the world. He is scowling and looks ready to rumble.

Around them is the proclamation, written in huge letters: "Ser Espa?ol no es ya una excusa. Es una responsibilidad." ("Being Spanish is no longer an excuse. It's a responsibility.") Advertising hyperbole aside, the Spanish national team is the dominant story at the European basketball championship. It has crushed most of its opponents, urged on by a hyperventilating sports media and by adoring fans who have filled Madrid Arena.

With its five NBA players leading the way, Spain has steamrollered the competition en route to Thursday's quarterfinals, losing only to Croatia in pool play on a last-second three-point basket. That defeat dampened only briefly the national fervor: Spain handily defeated defending EuroBasket champion Greece and previously unbeaten Russia before finishing off Israel, 99-73, on Tuesday night. Its opponent Thursday will be a struggling German team, which shouldn't be an obstacle on its way to what the Spanish media and supporters consider a given: the country's first EuroBasket title.

It won't be that easy, of course. Lithuania is equally talented and its players, led by ex-Maryland Terrapin Sarunas Jasikevicius and the Washington Wizards' Darius Songaila, can match Spain in offensive firepower (the teams are 1-2 in scoring average here) and mental toughness. But there's no question that Spain has all the elements a championship team needs.

Gasol is averaging 20.8 points, second-best in the tournament, and he has great guards in the Portland Trail Blazers' Sergio Rodriguez, the Toronto Raptors' Jos? Calder?n and Juan Carlos Navarro, the 2002 Wizards draft pick who, by virtue of a summer trade, will be joining his good friend Gasol on the Memphis Grizzlies. Forward Jorge Garbajosa of the Raptors and several experienced Europe-based teammates supply outside shooting and physical play inside.

"Spain is a whole other animal," said David Blatt, the American-born coach of Russia's team. "They can just overwhelm you."

Spanish Coach Pepu Hernandez stresses a pressing defense -- Spain leads the tournament in steals -- but also allows his stars great latitude on offense. Gasol, working out of the low post, is a strong inside scorer and effective passer. Spain shoots a lot of three-pointers and its fast break, with the super-quick Calder?n in the middle, is devastating. Israel managed to take a 48-47 halftime lead, then was outscored 52-25 in the second half. Spain scored the first 19 points of the fourth quarter.

Spain's rise in basketball was not unexpected. Talented young players such as Gasol, Navarro, Garbajosa and Calder?n helped Spain reach the EuroBasket final in 2003 and to a fourth-place finish in 2005. The next year brought the coronation for Spain: first place at the FIBA World Championship in Japan. A year later, it's regularly pointed out here that the mighty U.S. team, with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, could finish only third.

Blatt credits Spain's concerted effort to build up its youth teams as a key reason for the national squad's success. "The NBA guys know that their youth programs gave them a lot, and they are willingly obliged to give back to those programs," he said.

Ademola Okulaja, a former North Carolina Tar Heel who plays for Germany, got a close-up look at the surging Spanish players during several years with club teams in Spain. "They are pushing the talented young guys, putting them on the court very early," he said. "I played against Juan Carlos Navarro at Barcelona when he was 18. They are playing at a high level when they are young, so they mature very quickly."

Along with success has come a public adoration that is over the top. The Spanish media often treat the players as if they were in a boy band, referring to them by their first names or nicknames. Stories constantly emphasize how much they like each other and hang out together all the time. A reality show with Pau, Garbo, Jos? and the guys would be the next logical step.

The quiet, self-effacing Calder?n seemed to acknowledge things are getting a little out of hand after Spain defeated Russia Sunday night. Asked if he and his teammates really feel a responsibility now as Spanish players, he smiled sheepishly.

"It is only an advertising campaign, no?" he said.