Spain captured its second FIBA basketball World Cup title after defeating Argentina 95-75 in the gold medal game at the Wukesong Arena in Beijing on Sunday.
The Spaniards capped a dominant run as they finished undefeated at 8-0.
Point guard Ricky Rubio led Spain with 20 points, seven rebounds and three assists, and was named most valuable player of the international competition.
“We made history, and we were ready for that. We had a great tournament. We had to fight for this one,” Rubio said.
“It’s just amazing how the whole tournament has been for us as a team,” Rubio said. “We weren’t the biggest or most talented team, but we were the team with the biggest heart.”
The guard surpassed Argentina’s Pablo Prigioni as the World Cup assists leader since FIBA started recording all game statistics in 1994.
Big man Marc Gasol won his second championship in less than three months. He won the NBA championship with the Toronto Raptors and becomes the second player to win an NBA title and the FIBA World Cup title in the same year.
In 2010, Lamar Odom accomplished the feat for the Los Angeles Lakers and USA Basketball.
Gasol finished with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.
He was among five players named to the FIBA World Cup 2019 All-Star Five. The other four are Rubio, Bogdan Bogdanovic of Serbia, Evan Fournier of France and Luis Scola of Argentina.
The Spaniards won their first basketball World Cup title in 2006 in Japan.
Team USA finished seventh in the final standings.