Spain downs Germany 72-59 in Olympics basketball
BEIJING (AP) _ A controversial photo involving Spain's men's basketball team seemed to be no distraction Thursday for the world champions, who defeated Germany 72-59.
Pau Gasol, the Los Angeles Lakers center, scored 13 points for Spain, which was cheered by the crowd at the basketball arena.
There was no indication Spain had been affected by criticisms of an ad running in Spanish newspapers showing all 15 members of the team using their fingers to apparently make their eyes look more Chinese. A spokeswoman for the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday called the photo "clearly inappropriate," but said the team had intended no offense and apologized.
The OCA, an organization representing Asian-Pacific Americans, also found the photo disturbing.
Spain's coach Aito Garcia said he had had nothing to do with the ad and had not even seen the photo. But he grew testy when pressed by a reporter on whether the controversy had posed a distraction to his players.
"I can't understand this. Who's discussing this? You're discussing this," Garcia said at a postgame news conference.
The controversy hasn't been reported in China's entirely state-owned media and Chinese fans at the 18,000-seat Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium cheered for both teams during the game with no sign of anti-Spanish sentiment.
One man taking a cigarette break during halftime said he hadn't heard of the picture and didn't recognize the gesture.
"Are they looking at something?" asked the man, Huang Shiren.
Chinese, more than 90 percent of whom are members of the majority Han ethnic group, tend to be highly sensitive to political slights against their nation, but less attuned to racial and ethnic slurs seen in the West. Huang, a Han who works for the city government, said all seemed well in relations between the two countries.
"Spain and China don't have any problems between them," Huang said. "This should just be about sports without any of that other noise."
Gasol said Wednesday the photo had "supposed to be funny or something but never offensive in any way.
"I'm sorry if anybody thought or took it the wrong way and thought that it was offensive," he said.
On Thursday, Spanish guard Jose Manuel Calderon suggested the issue had been blown out of proportion.
"I think we're talking about things that don't matter," the Toronto Raptors star said. "We feel bad, but there is too much talk about it. We are a very multicultural country in Spain. We are for sure going to apologize."
Calderon led Spain with 15 points and Alex Mumbru added 14 points.
Spain double- and even triple-teamed Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks, and German coach Dirk Bauermann said he felt "a few more fouls should have been called." Nowitzki finished with 11 points. Germany plays China Saturday and Spain faces the United States.
Bauermann said Germany would build its defense around shutting down Houston Rockets center Yao Ming.
"It takes a team effort to defend against a great center like Yao," he said.