By Antonis Stroggylakis/ astroggylakis@eurohoops.net
Back in 2015, the shorthanded Portland Trail Blazers were beaten by the Memphis Grizzlies in Game 1 of their first-round NBA playoff series. The main storyline ended up being what French star and then Blazers player Nicolas Batum had written on a locker room sign prior to the match.
“We don’t lose to Spanish players”
The “Spanish players” was actually one: Grizzlies All-Star center Marc Gasol. Batum simply said that the message was a joke with Spanish forward Victor Claver, a Blazer’s member until March 2015. But its source was something deeper and older.
France – Spain games have a long history. They would meet time and again in knockout stages, semifinals, or title games in FIBA tournaments and, sometimes, those matches included a serious amount of tension.
When asked about these clashes, most players from the two national teams will probably tell you that there’s nothing more to them other than what is at stake in each situation.
That’s cute, considering that the evidence gathered from what we have seen all these years in these matches (or even outside of them) points to the contrary.
This is not just a traditional match-up between two powerhouse countries of European basketball. This is a rivalry that, in some cases that you’ll read below, has turned into borderline animosity and conflict.
Throwing the first punch
The roots of this basketball tug-of-war were quite possibly planted during the final of the 2011 Eurobasket tournament. A bit before halftime, Rudy Fernandez attempted to stop Tony Parker’s lay-up effort with a rather dangerous move that dropped the French superstar to the ground.
Spain won and 98 – 85 and was crowned European champions for the second time in a row, with Juan Carlos Navarro being named MVP. Although there wasn’t much discussion about Rudy’s hit back then, it’s quite possible that this incident lit the fuse that would bring some highly explosive moments in the next years.
The hot summer of 2012
The preparation period of the two teams ahead of the 2012 Olympic Games included a rematch of the previous year’s Eurobasket final. A so-called “friendly game”.
Mickael Gelabale and Rudy Fernandez forgot to get the memo obviously. When the Real Madrid forward stood in front of his opponent, reaching up his arm on his face, the French player reacted by shoving him on his back. The two players almost began a brawl, but their teammates intervened to prevent it.
They were both ejected from the match, as the home crowd booed Rudy heavily, still remembering his 2011 “hack attack” on Parker. This incident was just a prelude to what would take place in London.
France and Spain met again in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament. The two teams walked side by side for the larger part of the match until Sergio Scariolo’s players took a six-point lead, 63 – 57 with 23 seconds to go. Victory was at hand since they also had ball possession,
Their opponents would obviously foul, but Nicolas Batum went somewhat further than just that. He threw a full swing on Navarro, slugging him in the groin. Perhaps that wasn’t the area he was targeting, but it was there that his fist actually landed.
Not only did Batum look absolutely remorseless for his move but also joked about it, only moments after the game.
“I wanted to give him a good reason to flop,” said the French player. Before he went Rocky Balboa on Navarro, he and his teammates had been frustrated with the Spaniards, accusing them of using some major flopping tactics to elicit calls in their favor.
When asked if he thinks that what he did was in the Olympic spirit, Batum replied: “Do you think if you lost a game on purpose, that’s the Olympic spirit?”, openly implying that the Spanish national team tanked games during the Group stage.
Batum would later write “I want to apologize for my stupid act at the end, I showed a bad image of France and myself, Congrats to team Spain” on his Twitter profile.