Argentina’s game plan was simple for their South American showdown with Brazil in the Eight Final of the 2010 FIBA World Championship: make Marcelo Huertas beat them and not the low post tandem of Anderson Varejao and Tiago Splitter.
And it worked for Argentina, who beat Brazil 93-89 to book a spot in the quarters against Lithuania.
Huertas scored a team-high 32 points, including four three-pointers, for Brazil. But Varejao (7 points) and Splitter (10 – six on free throws) combined for just 17 points on a combined 5 of 11 shooting in 59 minutes of action.
“We watched the connection between Heurtas and Splitter and Varejao on the pick and roll. All the game we went behind the pick. And forced Heurtas to score 25 points but did not give him space to pass to everybody else. We said if he scores 30 points and we win, then that’s okay,” said Argentina point guard Pablo Prigioni.
Huertas scored 32 and Argentina reached the quarters – game plan worked.