Spain's Juancho Hernangomez completes whirlwind year with EuroBasket title
The past year has been a rollercoaster for Juancho Hernangomez of the Toronto Raptors. He was traded four times (from Minnesota to Memphis to Boston to San Antonio to Utah), starred in the movie "Hustle" alongside Adam Sandler as shot-blocking stud Bo Cruz, and on Sunday, he led Spain to their fourth EuroBasket title.
Juancho hit seven three-pointers and racked up 27 points as La Roja defeated Les Bleus (France) in the final, 88-76. Spain dominated France in the first quarter, jumping to an 11-point lead early and leading by as many as 21 points in the second quarter. Aside from an early Rudy Gobert free throw that gave France a 1-0 lead, Spain never trailed.
American import Lorenzo Brown had 14 points and 11 assists for Spain, while Evan Fournier paced France with 23 points.
Juancho, playing on a one-year minimum deal in Toronto, could thrive — and make some serious money — if his three-point shooting continues with the Raptors.
Juancho's brother, Willy, continued his stellar tournament with 14 points and eight rebounds and earned EuroBasket MVP.
Gobert faltered after dominating earlier in the tourney, getting only six points and six rebounds. Similar to his NBA playoff struggles, Gobert failed to make an impact when the opposing team had good three-point shooters. Spain made 15 of 31 shots from beyond the arc.
A few non-NBA stars stood out at EuroBasket. Germany's Dennis Schroder averaged 22.1 points, parlaying his play into a contract with the Lakers. Orlando rookie Franz Wagner also starred for the Germans, hitting 46 percent of his three-pointers.
Meanwhile, Willy Hernangomez proved he merits more minutes as a backup center for the New Orleans Pelicans, and new Utah forward Lauri Markkanen averaged 27.9 points per game for Finland.
The next big international basketball event is in August when the FIBA World Cup will be played in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.
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