Warsaw – After a shocking loss to Serbia in Eurobasket’s opening day, most believed that Spain would come out and stomp on their second opponent, Great Britain.

It looked that way for awhile as Spain jumped out to a 12-0 lead, and held a 16 point lead midway through the third quarter, 55-39.

However, Great Britain would outscore Spain by 20 points, 34-14, in the next ten minutes of play to give them a four point lead. Great Britain led 73-69 with just five minutes remaining in the game.

The Spanish would answer, scoring eleven straight points and close out the game with a 15-7 run.

The run was sparked by a Rudy Fernandez steal and fastbreak dunk and Pau Gasol’s second three-point shot. The quick five point run gave the Spanish the lead for good, 74-73.

Spain would go on to win the game unconvincingly by just eight points, 84-76; leaving the Spanish team, their coaching staff, and fans shaking their heads.

Questions Remain
Even with many of the same players on the roster, this is clearly not the same Spanish team.

Has the constant change finally caught up to Spain? Sergio Scariolo is España’s third coach in three years and you can bet if Spain continues to play this erractically, there will be even more change after the tournament.

Is Spain missing José Calderón that much?

Ricky Rubio has stepped in, and has yet to make a significant impact.  Despite playing around 25 minutes in each of the first two games, the teenage point guard has shot 3-10 and only one total steal.  Rubio has passed out 9 assists and has only turned over the ball once, but the flow of the offense rests on Rubio.

The good news?  Pau Gasol responded to his ugly performance yesterday against Serbia with 27 points and 11 rebounds, and Rudy Fernández played this game, adding 13 points.

Team Spain also shot better, much better, from three point land, hitting 10-19 attempts from beyond the arc.

The bad news? This brings into question Spain’s focus. This is how Spain responds to their loss; barely putting away Great Britain until there is two minutes remaining in the game?

Pau Gasol was better from the line, but his shooting wasn’t anything to be happy about. Gasol made just 11 of 18 free throw attempts.

Spain may be eliminated tomorrow
Things won’t get any easier as Spain takes on Slovenia in the third and final game of the group play.

Slovenia has won both their games against the other two teams in their group: Great Britain and Serbia, and are guaranteed to advance on.

If Slovenia were to win tomorrow against Spain, that coupled with a Serbia loss to Great Britain by eight points or more, then the unthinkable has happened; mighty Spain will have been eliminated in the first round.