Pau Gasol, Spain finish with Bronze Medal at Eurobasket 2017

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San Antonio Spurs center Pau Gasol and the Spanish National team finished with the Bronze Medal at the 2017 Eurobasket tournament, after Spain defeated Russia 93-85 Sunday.

Both Pau and his brother Marc of the Memphis Grizzlies were too much for Russia, as the siblings combined for 51 points, 14 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. Pau finished individually as the leading scorer for Spain with 26 points (12-17 shooting), 10 rebounds, three assists and four blocks in 32 minutes. Sergio Rodriguez previously of the Philadelphia 76ers added 16 points and nine assists for Spain.

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While Russia fell behind from the get-go of the first quarter and though they faced a double-digit deficit for most of the game, Russia did eventually get within striking distance of Spain in the final minutes before the Spanish held on for the victory. Russia was led by one of their former NBA players in Alexey Shved (18 points) and current Brooklyn Nets center Timofey Mozgov (14 points, 10 rebounds).

While Spain didn’t capture Gold at Eurobasket, they showed they are still one of the more dominant international teams around the world as they finished with an 8-1 record. Despite being 37 years old, Pau displayed how he’s still a premier force on the FIBA stage, where he finished the entire tournament with averages of 17.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 blocks in 26.3 minutes per game in eight games.

Pau will now have eight days to rest and recover before training camp with the Spurs begins on September 26.

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