Spain/ France 2013/14: Day 3

Today was a very full day that began with our first exhibition game of the tour. We played against a club named Oppsa. We took the light rail to the game which was very easy as we now have acclimatized to the transit system here in the city. The game was an interesting contrast of European style basketball vs. North American style basketball. While both sides were evenly matched in terms of size and athleticism, team Oppsa was very adept at passing the basketball and created shooting opportunities for their teammates, while we tend to be a little more one on one oriented. The half time score was 36 - 31. In the second half our opponents opened up an 11 point lead. By the end of the third quarter and with 7:34 remaining in the game we were down 17 points. Then the rally began. The obvious weakness of our opponents was pressure and we began an all out assault pressuring every pass and trapping at every opportunity and with 10 seconds remaining we took our first lead of the game 74-72 on a clutch pull up jumper by Mo Aghelnejad . On the ensuing possession a phantom foul was called on us sending them to the free throw line with 1.8 seconds remaining. They made one of two free throws and we secured the rebound for the victory.
The scoring was very balanced with Mo leading the way with 19 points, followed by Jovin Narwal and Pavan Mehat with 11 points each , Aman Mehat and Jaden Narwal with 10 points each and Jeremy Sieg with 6 points going 3 for 3 from the field. With our gym situation back home the boys are certainly used to playing on the road and this was no different including the referees who are universally inconsistent. After the game and our 100 push ups, 60 bench dips and 10 minutes of core work, we then proceed to the touring part of the day.
Today we visited the Basilica di Sagrada Familia created by the famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. It is an amazing architectural structure that words or pictures do not do it justice. Following that we visited Park Guell also created by Gaudi. It is surrealistic and is declared "Property of Mankind" by UNESCO in 1984. After this complete morning and afternoon, we went back to the hotel for a much needed siesta. With many places closing for new years we finally found a Japanese restaurant completely in Spanish (surprise, surprise) which was a little challenging but quite tasty.
After dinner we traveled to the Montjuich district where for the first time ever there was a new years performance and fireworks. There was a captivating performance by a famous Spanish group who performed at the opening of the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. The performance saw a giant figure called "millennium soul" a puppet made of metal and humans followed by one of the most impressive fireworks displays I have ever seen. There were over 75,000 people in attendance and staying together and getting through the throngs of people to the entrance took over an hour. The adventure does not end there as taking the light rail back to the hotel was somewhat entertaining and uncomfortable as the subway cars could not have squeezed another body into them. Phew, what a long and certainly memorable day. I suspect my plan for a team workout tomorrow may have to be canceled. Good night or should I say good morning?