Spain went into the 2009 EuroBasket Final trying to bury the nightmare of their last gasp loss to the hand of JR Holden on home soil in Madrid two years earlier and after a slow start to this tournament in Poland, none of that mattered as Serbia and 40 minutes stood between them and their supposed destiny. Could Serbia, the youngest team in the tournament, average age less than 23 years old spring another big surprise? Spain went onto court with P Gasol, Fernandez, Rubio, Navarro and Garbajosa while Serbia has Tepic, Teodosic, Tripkovic, Velickovic and Krstic. It was Pau Gasol, the leading scorer in the championships that fittingly got the first score of the final after Fernandez dumped it off to him in the paint. However that lead lasted barely a minute as Uros Tripkovic scored a triple from the top, a feat repeated by Navarro from the corner. Krstic then finished inside and the game was tied 5-5. Three minutes in and Rubio spotted up from the same location as Navarro and the outcome was the same as he sunk the three-pointer. Gasol then extended the Spanish lead with a turnaround jumper, again from a Fernandez assist and when Rudy then made his third assist to Garbajosa in the corner, he made Spain's third triple of the game and at 13-7 after five minutes, things already looked ominous for Serbia. Navarro then made a jump shot and Serbia were on the ropes and the early feeling was that a blowout was a possibility. Spain were moving the ball very well and when Fernandez stepped back and drilled home a trey, the double figure lead was established. By the time Raul Lopez finished in transition, Ivkovic called time-out his team 20-7 behind and caught in a Spanish whirlwind. Little wonder that the Spanish fans were celebrating early. Serbia found some respite when Markovic got to the line and made two free-throws. Spain were not only moving the ball but also very aggressive on the glass on the offensive end and that handed Marc Gasol the chance of his first points of the game as he sunk both free throws to take the game out to 22-9 with a little over 90 seconds remaining. Navarro then showed some nice dribble penetration before stopping and making a jump shot but thankfully for Serbia, Tripkovic made another big perimeter play to barely keep his team in the contest. A nice fake on the arc and drive to the hoop for Velickovic helped matters further as he gave a taste of what he can bring to the ACB this season at Real and that little flurry meant Serbia trailed 24-14 at the end of the first - a scoreline that could have been a lot worse but for the last 90 seconds.

Serbia extended their run to 7 points at the start of the second as Velickovic made a nice baseline fadeaway but a tip-in by Marc Gasol got Spain back ticking over on the scoreboard again. Ivan Paunic drove to the bucket and was fouled by Mumbru and he made one from the line to reduce the gap to single figures before Marc Gasol fouled Velickovic and despite only just over a minute gone in the period, it was the fifth foul by the Spanish and he went made one free-throw. It was quite astonishing that Spain had managed to commit five foul in 80 seconds during this early stage of the game and in a comfortable position so not surprisingly Coach Scariolo wanted to talk it over with the refs. Fernandez was then blocked and not surprisingly when the ball ended back in his hands on the arc, he couldn't help himself but to shoot - an airball. Serbia had edged themselves back into the game with an aggressive approach but that aggression was matched by Pau Gasol as he ripped down a big dunk to make it 28-18. Fernandez was then back in the action again as he exploded to the hoop and was fouled, sinking both free-throws. He then made a spectacular reverse lay-up in transition and Spain were back on top again at 32-18. Serbia were finding it tough going and after Pau came up with a block and Reyes scored inside on the break, it was time-out Serbia again with just under six minutes left .Tripkovic, another player about to make his ACB debut made a couple of free-throws to slow Spain down. Pau Gasol was next to step up on the line but he missed both and then got the chance to redeem himself as Fernandez grabbed the rebound, found Navarro who threw it up to the Lakers star for a big alley-oop play. Rubio then made two free-throws and the blowout was all but confirmed with 4 minutes still to go until Serbia could find refuge in the locker rooms. Pau Gasol then made it 40-20 inside to spark cheers of 'MVP' from the Spanish fans. Dusan Ivkovic was doing everything in his power to keep encouraging his players to believe and Nenad Krstic made a couple from the line. The class of the Spanish was then underlined with a terrific play, outrageously nonchalant ball movement and patience finding Rubio wide open and home alone. He knocked down the triple and Serbia barely had time to breathe. Krstic made a lay-up but Fernandez cancelled that out with two more free throws before Pau Gasol threw another one down. It was getting embarrassing as Gasol then came up with another block and already the MVP was barely in doubt. Velickovic made a score on the fast break for Serbia but Navarro made another triple. Then with 12 seconds left, Teodosic responded with his own three-pointer but summing up a stunning first half display, Pau Gasol made a lay-up on the buzzer to leave the court with 14 points, 8 rebounds and 2 big blocks and his team 52-29 ahead and the gold medal already hanging round their necks - barring the biggest comeback in EuroBasket history.

Spain were quickly back into the swing in the second half with a quick score from Rubio but Velickovic came back with a tip-in. Pau Gasol grabbed his first points of the third quarter from the free-throw line annoyed with himself he didn't convert when fouled and had to settle for two free-throws. Krstic then scored inside before then almost doing the same but he was hammered and had to make one point from the line, missing his second attempt. Spain were perhaps less fluid than in that stunning first half but the twenty point lead was always there or thereabouts as Pau Gasol came up with a monster rejection of Velickovic who was left floored by the experience. To his credit, Velickovic hen responded with a triple next time down the floor and Coach Scariolo called time-out to probably try and get his team back firing on offence with just four points in four minutes. Navarro got one to drop inside as Serbia defence focused on Marc Gasol while Teodosic responded with a lay-up. The Serbia fans tried to lift their team, in far bigger numbers than previously seen. Milenko Tepic gave them reason to cheer with a lovely spin move to the hoop and the gap dropped to 17 at 58-41. In what was turning into a courageous quarter for Serbia, Krstic then made a jump shot and was fouled by Marc Gasol. He made the free-throw and his team had outscored Spain 15-6 in just over six minutes. Just when it looked like Serbia could dream of an unlikely comeback at 58-44, Marc Gasol showed good perseverance inside and Rudy Fernandez made a lay-up. That meant time-out for Ivkovic with fewer than three to go until the final period. Felipe Reyes entered the game and the Real Madrid forward scored within a couple of seconds showing some range with a nice jump shot - the margin was back out to 20 points and when Fernandez shrugged off the attentions of some vigorous Serbian defence to make a jumper of his own, it was 66-44 with 90 seconds left. At least the Greek fans were making plenty of noise too in order to add to the atmosphere - sometimes a problem in blowouts but their incessant drumming and chanting kept the intensity inside the Arena up to a decent level. Still celebrating their bronze medal of course and perhaps enjoying watching a different team feeling the power of the Spanish. The all action Reyes loves a battle and he went strongly in the lane but was fouled hard, something he never minds and he made both with 6 seconds left to complete the scoring in the penultimate period. Spain headed into the last quarter with the same 23 point margin as they did at half-time at 67-44.

It was a quiet start to the last ten minutes for both teams until Kosta Perovic threw one down aggressively and seconds later, Carlos Cabezas joined the party for the first time and instantly made an impression with a triple from the corner. That allowed the chants of 'Champions' to ring from the Spanish fans and the Spanish number 10 then made a jump shot just in case anybody thought it the celebrations were premature. After Tripkovic grabbed a put back the chants of 'Ole, Ole' went up as each Spanish player caught the ball and it ended perfectly with Real Madrid guard Sergio Llull grabbing a bucket as he was fouled. That led to another Serbian time out at 74-48. When he returned, Llull completed the 'And1'. Reyes was certainly enjoying himself and he grabbed another inside score as Spain became rampant and beared down on the thirty point barrier. Cabezas too highlighting the depth of the Spanish team as he moved to 7 points in four minutes. Pamesa Valencia center Perovic grabbed an inside score and then Raduljica made it a rare two scores in a row for Serbia but Pau Gasol was back scoring (already with a double double) as he got the fans chanting 'MVP' once again. The biggest EuroBasket margin in a final was 31 points in 1985 and Spain had just under three minutes to break that record but Serbia kept going. Raduljica scoring again and then Tripkovic draining a triple to put any record out of the picture. Cabezas went to the hoop and dropped it off to Llull at the last minute for a nice play and with just under a minute left the Spanish fans went for it and the celebrations started in earnest. Popovic made one free-throw and then Spain put the icing on the cake as Lull threw one up for Claver to finish with a spectacular reverse dunk. While Velickovic hit the last points of the Final with a triple the fiesta go into full swing as Spain were crowned European Champions for the first time with a classy and resounding 85-63 success.