2008
26
Aug
Spanish Player on Losing to Redeem Team: ‘We Deserved to Win’
All in all, Spain should be proud for taking a team of NBA All-Stars to the limit. There’s no shame in losing to perhaps the most talented team to ever step foot on a basketball court … right? That’s not how Spain’s starting center Felipe Reyes (pictured, getting demolished by Kobe Bryant) team sees it. From SportsYa.com (via HoopsHype)
“I think we deserved to win the gold medal because we did an incredible job. If it hadn’t been for the officials, we’d have the gold instead of the silver,” center Felipe Reyes said.“If they had blown the whistle for the steps they take, the defense with the hands they use and had blown the whistle on everything, it’s clear that we would have won. We got to within three points in spite of the referees, and if they’d been good, we would have won, pretty clearly,” Reyes said.
“If the referees had followed FIBA rules, we would have won, but we are very satisfied with the silver,” Reyes, who scored 10 points, said.
To be fair, Reyes does have a point: the referees were bad. That said, the only thing consistent about the refs was that they made questionable calls on both sides of the ball. Kobe Bryant and LeBron James were in foul trouble for much of the game, but the difference is that when Team USA had to sit someone, they had someone like Dwyane Wade or Deron Williams to take their spot. It was the Redeem Team’s depth (and the short international three-point line) that won this game, not the refs.