Spain will resume their title defense today when they go up against heavy underdog Finland in the second round of the FIBA EuroBasket Men 2013 in Slovenia.
Spain will look to bounce back from a disappointing 79-75 loss against Greece on Thursday, which put them on the brink of elimination in this year's European championship.
The defending champions looked as if they were headed to an important win in the game, but the Greeks took advantage of the sloppy play of Spain, scoring a total of 19 points off the Spanish squad's 17 turnovers.
Spain will once again rely on their defensive prowess, which limited their opponents to just 58 points per game in the tournament, while also displaying impressive team basketball with 16.7 assists a game.
Rudy Fernandez leads Spain in scoring with 13.0 points per game to go along with 4.8 rebounds, while Marc Gasol is averaging 12.0 points and 7.8 rebounds in the tournament.
Finland, on the other hand, will look to pull off another upset and bounce back from a blowout loss in their opening game in the second round.
After stunning Greece in the final day of the first round, Finland came out flat on Thursday, absorbing a humiliating 88-63 loss against Finland.
The Finnish squad will once again lean on former NBA player Peteri Koponen, who averaged 12.5 points and 4.7 assists in their first six games of the tournament. Shawn Huff is the team's second-leading scorer with 10.8 points, while also adding five rebounds.
While Spain is considered as favorite heading into Saturday's match, star center Marc Gasol is expecting a tough game on Saturday night.
"I am expecting a physical game, they are going to be running, Koponen is going to shoot the ball every chance he gets, their power forwards are very quick, they are really like big 'threes' playing at '4', so it's a good team, they have all-round players," said Gasol in a FIBA interview.
Live Streaming, Live Stats, And Box Score
The Spain vs Finland match will start at 11:45 p.m. EST. Live streaming of the match will be available on LiveBasketball T.V, while more EuroBasket Men action will be available on ESPN Watch.
You can also catch the live play-by-play and box score of the match on FIBA EuroBasket 2013 website.
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