On August 28, the Men's Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers, Spain vs. The Netherlands.
A slightly rickety, but absolutely handsome figure scored 3-of-4 in the first quarter to help Spain drag down their opponent's three-plate axe 15-22 in the first quarter.
In the end, the more powerful Spain won 86-64, and the veteran only played 12 minutes in the first half. After stabilizing the situation, he watched the young Garupa and Hernangomez dismember their opponents on the field.
This 37-year-old middle-aged man is named Rudy Fernandez.
The only national team of the "Golden Generation" of the Spanish men's basketball team in this century is also the "Espanyol" who dunked Howard at the Olympic Games and scored 5 points in 2.5 seconds in the NBA.
He should have relied most on his body, but he retired the last.
In this year's World Cup European qualifiers, even the "golden boy" Ricky Rubio of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games announced his withdrawal, and the veteran who left the NBA in 2012 and played in Real Madrid in La Liga for another decade is once again dressed up.
With the young Gomez brothers, Garuba and Lorenzo Brown again in Europe.
This time, he no longer has the Gasol brothers, Gabayosa, Navarro and other brothers around him, he has become the oldest player in Spain and even this game, and has become the last shadow of the world's greatest "golden generation" in the FIBA world in the 21st century.
Today we're going to revisit the Spaniard, who has appeared in our basketball memories many times.
First, the basketball family, the flying Spaniards
Rudy Fernandez was born on 4 April 1985 in the Baltic Islands, Spain. Both of his parents were basketball players, and his sister Marta later became a basketball player.
But the most talented person in the family is still little Rudy.
He inherited his parents' basketball genes and showed excellent running and jump talent very early on. And unlike traditional European players who pay attention to passing and skill, Rudy prefers the feeling of flying on the field.
In 2002, at the age of 17, he joined La Liga Juventus, the same team his parents had played for.
The 03-04 season was a turning point in Fernandez's career, as he became a major player in Juventus, competing in La Liga and the European Club Cup (equivalent to the Europa League for football), and was selected for the Spanish national team for the Athens Olympic Games.
But Spain lost to the U.S. men's basketball team in the quarterfinals to finish seventh, with Rudy scoring 5.1 points in 10.6 minutes per game.
But the era that belongs to him and the Spanish men's basketball team will soon arrive.
2006 World Championships, Champion,
2007 European Championships, runner-up,
Coupled with their previous domination in youth competitions at the time, the FIBA world refers to them as the Golden Generation.
In 2007, when the U.S. men's basketball team decided to invite Kobe, LeBron, Kidd, etc. to form a "dream eight team" to play in the Beijing Olympic Games, they became the last hope to resist the NBA's ultimate team.
Rudy Fernandez, on the other hand, has not only grown into the national team's chief striker, but is also a real "thigh" at Juventus.
In the 2007-08 European Club Cup, he averaged 15.2 points, 3.4 boards and 3.7 assists per game, not only leading the team to win the championship, but also becoming the mvp of the game.
The speed of the breakthrough and the passionate dunk earned him the title of "Flying Matador".
Second, the Olympics' amazing and tragic NBA career
But what really made the world know him was the Beijing Olympics.
The United States and Spain both reached the final with great momentum and joined forces to present a classic competition that will go down in history.
Dream Eight with superhuman physical strength to carry out the full field of tight, Kobe, LeBron, Wade's personal ability shines brightly.
With tacit cooperation and more adaptation to FIBA rules, Spain circled with The Dream Eight to the last three minutes.
In the end, it was Kobe's four-point shot to seal the victory.
And that unlucky foul background board is Rudy.
But he could also leave with his head held high, a game in which he scored a team-high 22-pointer and 5-of-9 from outside the three-point line and scored such a dry three-point shot against LeBron James.
The most classic scene occurred in the fourth quarter, when he dribbled the ball in the high position with a lightning bolt turned around Kobe Bryant and then smashed the ball into the basket against "Warcraft" Howard.
The best defensive player "Sanlian Zhuang" of the Magic Beast, 12 defensive ones of the black mamba, at this moment all became his background board.
After the Olympics, he joined the Portland Trail Blazers in the NBA, and in the 08-09 season as a substitute for "Yellow Mamba" Brandon Roy, averaging 25.6 minutes per game and can get 10.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2 assists and 0.9 steals.
At the same time, he shot a total of 159 three-pointers with a three-point shooting rate of 39.9% (42.1% in the playoffs), breaking the NBA rookie three-point shooting record at the time.
During the Blazers' three years, he grew up with young talents such as Roy and Ade, and together with Otello and Baylors, became the league's intimidating bench bandits.
He can even contribute to the "miracle" of 2.5 seconds and five consecutive kills.
But in Portland, he never got enough attention and didn't give Brandon Roy more trust even when he was plagued by injuries.
Even signed Matthews in 2010-11 as Roy's replacement.
The arrogant Rudy was reluctant to continue playing for the Blazers, so he was sent to the Dallas Mavericks in the 2011 offseason and soon transferred to the Denver Nuggets.
Although there was still a good performance on that Denver "track and field team", Rudy lost interest in the NBA.
At the end of the 2011-12 season, he announced the end of a four-year NBA journey back to Spain.
Third, the return to Real Madrid, the white legend of immortality
He joined the Real Madrid men's basketball team, a team whose historical achievements are no less than those of the giants of the same football team.
Here's his national team mate Yule, his brother Rodriguez at the Blazers.
Since 2012, he has won two La Liga titles, two Champions League titles, four Copa del Rey and three Super Cups for the giants.
I also watched the once little brother Doncic grow into the top superstar in the basketball world.
Back home, Rudy was incredibly happy and happy.
Here he can play the most familiar basketball with his teammates who have been with him since childhood, and people have given him the highest level of love and trust.
He fell in love with the famous model Helen Lindis, and the two had an angelic pair of children.
He became the most "jealous" man in Spain.
More importantly, here he can play happier, whether at Real Madrid or the Spanish national team.
In 2012, they reached the Olympic final again, losing again to the Dream Ten team with Kobe, LeBron and Durant.
In 2015 he followed Paul Gasol to hammer the young Gobert (France) and Valenciunas (Lithuania) to win the European Championship.
In 2019, as the captain, together with Little Gasol and Rubio, he won the Men's Basketball World Cup championship in our place.
They were beaten by Dream for the fifth consecutive time at the Tokyo Olympics last year, but this golden Spain team has given fans too many good memories.
Their big brother Gabayosa and Navarro and Calderon retired first.
After the Tokyo Olympics, the Gasol brothers also left,
Instead, Fernandez, who left the NBA first, made it to the end.
He was the passionate buckler who was not afraid that day,
It was also a hapless egg that was ruthlessly put down in the NBA,
He was the most passionate assassin in Spain,
Now he has become the last sticker of the golden generation,
At the 2022 Men's Basketball European Cup, the 37-year-old Rudy is still reminding us of the wonderful memories of basketball.