Sergio Scariolo's men, current Olympic doubles runner-up, controlled the first part of the meeting, but after the break began the Croatian comeback against a very Fallona Spain, who lived an agonizing end.
The match was eventually decided in the last five minutes when Croatia drew level 67 before finishing seizing victory.
"In the second half we did not defend well. Now we have to think about the next game and look ahead," he said after the meeting the Nikola Mirotic power forward.
Spain already started something cold, leaving Croatia take the lead for a while, but two triple Pau Gasol and Mirotic launched the Spanish team, which would end the first quarter with partial 21-13 in their favor.
Gasol and Mirotic were the best men of his team with 26 and 19 points, respectively.
Given the defensive strength of Spain in the first half, Croatia tried from the outside, but continuous misfires allowed the escape of the Spaniards in the lead at halftime winning 38-32.
"We had many problems in attack for the first time," he acknowledged after the meeting Dario Saric.
- Spanish Disconnection -
After the break, the success of Darko Planinic from the free throw line and Roko Ukic triple Croats approached a 47-51 before entering the fourth quarter with two more points for the Spaniards.
"The last quarter was horrible, we had five turnovers and other mistakes and although we could put back in the game, could not avoid losing," said Spanish coach Sergio Scariolo.
In the fourth quarter, with an off Spain, two consecutive failures attack Mirotic allowed paths Croatian recoveries, which were placed 52-56, before a 6:47 for the final three-pointer put the Balkan Ukic to a point .
A new failure led the Croatian attack against and mate Luka Babic to put Croatia ahead one 6:13 remaining.
The last five minutes were epic with a three pointer by Sergio Rodriguez answered with Bojan Bogdanovic another, the best of his team with 23 points, before Gasol made a third consecutive to post a 63-62 in favor of Spain.
1:35 to go, Planinic tied at 67 points. Croatia sentenced after two free throws by Krunoslav Simon, in the absence of 17 seconds, which placed one 71-70 in favor of the Balkans, which would add a new point, also free kick.
The buzzer, Gasol had one last chance to tie, but received a great plug Saric.
Scariolo will now have to bounce back from defeat on Tuesday to face a complicated Brazil.
"Other times we lost the first game and we could fix it," said Spanish coach.
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