Golden Generation goes for their final run

The golden generation of Argentinean basketball players will make their final journey at the 2010 FIBA World Championship. Their goal? To win this tournament, say good bye to their fans in Mar del Plata in 2011 and end their run with the 2012 Olympics.

Argentina comes to this FIBA World Championship with a great plan in order to say good bye to the Golden Generation, who already won silver in the 2002 FIBA World Championship, gold in the 2004 Olympics and bronze at the 2008 Olympics. The first step comes here in Turkey, where this group of players hopes to bring back gold for the first time since 1950. This team, led by Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Carlos Delfino and Pablo Prigioni, will have the task of confirming Argentina as the top ranked team in FIBA with a great performance in this tournament.

Last year at the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship they started slowly, but the combination of Luis Scola and Pablo Prigioni, along with great role players, guided Argentina to a bronze medal and Scola finished as the MVP of the tournament. Despite not having Manu Ginobili, Carlos Delfino, Walter Herrman, among others, the Argentinean team rode the storm together and recovered.

In this tournament they won’t have Ginobili and will rely once again on playing as a team to achieve results in this tournament. “We can play well without Manu, I'm convinced," said Scola when asked about the impact of not having Manu Ginobili in this Championship. “Manu is a better player than we realise, but basketball is a team sport, you can play just as well if anyone is missing.”

Despite missing Ginobili, the team will have players who have had some good NBA seasons like Andres Nocioni with the Sacramento Kings and Carlos Delfino, who came back and made an impact with the Milwaukee Bucks. . After injuries to Juan Pablo Figueroa and Juan Pablo Cantero, point guard Luis Cequeira, a veteran of the Argentinenan League, was called in to the team. Veterans Fabricio Oberto, Hernan Jasen, Leo Gutierrez and Roman Gonzalez will steady the team with a stable production inside.

Pablo Prigioni will be the main man at the point guard position and probably the most important player on the court. Prigioni is a master of playing the position and organising the Argentinean offense. His combination with Luis Scola has been great at all levels and secures Argentina a great performance even when they are missing their main players.

For this busy summer they divided the team, where a group of prospects played games against the Chinese national team and another plays in the South American Championship. Head coach Sergio Hernandez followed both tournaments closely and will pick the best players from those competitions and will join the Senior team to practice for the FIBA World Championship, aiming for a great showing this year and in the future.

After an MVP performance at the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship, Luis Scola will be the first option for Argentina in the paint. His durability and great moves inside will be they key to scoring a high percentage of their shots and also opening up shooters like Delfino, Nocioni and Quinteros, who are deadly from outside.

Defensively, Argentina is known for their intensity and hard work, they don’t give up easy baskets to anyone and know that a great defensive performance will be key to a good offensive display. In this tournament, they will face the best of the best and can’t have the luxury of letting the other teams score easily.

At the 2010 FIBA World Championship, Argentina have been drawn in Group A along with Angola, Australia, Germany, Jordan and Serbia. In the past Argentina had many great games against Serbia, who they defeated in the 2004 Olympics with a last second basket by Ginobili. But the Germans and Australians are also on the rise while Angola and Jordan aren’t easy opponents this time around with the evolution of modern basketball.

Once again, Argentina, thanks to their discipline, hard work and team mindset, will try to make this one count for their fans and to ensure everyone can see why they are one of the most respected teams worldwide.