In an age of disposal guarantees made by athletes, Juan Carlos Navarro’s newest claim is nevertheless noteworthy – even if he was half-joking.
The ACB official site today reports on conversation between the FC Barcelona stud and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Pau Gasol, whose teams will face off tomorrow night in the most intriguing match of the entire NBA Europe Live tour.
Proclaimed Navarro: “Le dije a Pau que ganaríamos seguro.” (“I told Pau we would win for sure.”)
Navarro explained to Spanish media that “I told Pau, half joking and half serious [that] we’d win for sure.” After all, Navarro reasons, Barça’s already been playing in Catalan League, Spanish Super Cup and ACB games, while the Lakers are in preseason form “and not at their best.”
Despite the fact that L.A. is in preseason mode and lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday because of even distribution of minutes, Navarro believes regardless that the Lakers will come to Palau Blaugrana ready to play ball.
“This time they’re playing against the European champions,” he said. “They know what surrounds this type of game and that we won’t make it easy. They will take [this game] more seriously.”
And recall that in 2008, Barça managed to keep things interesting in a 108-104 Lakers win at the Staples Center…
Tags: ACB, Juan Carlos Navarro, Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA, NBA Europe Live 2010, Pau Gasol, Spain
I would like to point out that after Barca made things interesting for the Lakers the next day they lost to the Clippers.
[...] –“For those of you who don’t “‘habla espanol,’” FC Barcelona’s Juan Carlos Navarro told Pau Gasol that his team will beat the Lakers. BallinEurope.com also has the details. [...]
two things
1. You can see from the highlights that Barca was down by 15 with 4:48 so they closed the gap in garbage down.
2. Juan Carlos Navarro is a little cocky. How did he do with Spain in the WC with no Pau to help him out? 6th place. He is not as good as he thinks he is.
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Looks like the super arrogant Gabe is still trolling this forum.
World/European club champions Barca 92 – USA/Canada club champions Los Angeles Lakers 88.
[...] The occasion marked the third such triumph for the Spanish side in recent years and chases up the 2010 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. Perhaps most significantly locally, even those a bit begrudging about European basketball may [...]