Spain overcomes controversial photo, beats Germany

Spain beat Germany 72-59 on Thursday, showing no sign that it is distracted in any way by the flap over a photo for an ad campaign featuring its entire basketball team.

The Spaniards were cheered by the crowd and were backed by Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol with 13 points.

The ad running in Spanish newspapers showed all 15 members of the team using their fingers to apparently make their eyes look more Chinese.

Spain's coach Aito Garcia said he had had nothing to do with the ad and had not even seen the photo. He grew testy when asked if this controversy posed a problem for his players.

"I can't understand this," he said at a news conference after the game. "Who's discussing this? You're discussing this."

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Giselle Davies on Thursday again called the photo "inappropriate," but added: "We understand the team has apologized and meant no offense. The matter rests there for the IOC."

Beijing Olympic committee spokesman Wang Wei said Thursday he hadn't seen the photo and couldn't comment on it. The OCA, an organization representing Asian-Pacific Americans, found the photo disturbing.

The leader of Madrid's bid for the 2016 Games said it was an "isolated incident" and a "misunderstanding" that should not affect Spain's Olympic candidacy.

"We are not worried about that," Mercedes Coghen told The Associated Press. "I think they meant it as a friendly thing. They are really nice guys. As you know they have (Chinese sportswear brand) Li Ning as sponsors.

"I don't give more importance to it. We are talking in our bid about inclusiveness. We are talking about how we want to use the sports values to change, to create a new model of living together. In Madrid we live with 190 nationalities together."

Thursday evening the Spanish basketball federation said it was considering legal action against the British newspaper, The Guardian, to "protect" its reputation.

The controversy "was generated by the bad faith shown by several media (organizations) that wanted to damage the image of not only the FEB, but also our country and our sport," the federation said in a statement.

The Guardian questioned whether it was appropriate for the world champions to pose for the photo in an article originally published on its Web site on Monday.

The controversy hasn't been reported in China's entirely state-owned media and Chinese fans at the 18,000-seat basketball arena cheered for both teams during the game with no sign of anti-Spanish sentiment.

Huang Shiren, a fan at the Spain-Germany game, said at halftime he hadn't heard about the picture. When shown the photo he didn't recognize the gesture.

"Are they looking at something?" Huang asked.

Chinese, more than 90 percent of whom are members of the majority Han ethnic group, tend to be highly sensitive to political slights against their nation, but less attuned to racial and ethnic slurs seen in the West. Huang, a Han who works for the city government, said all seemed well in relations between the two countries.

"Spain and China don't have any problems between them," Huang said. "This should just be about sports without any of that other noise."

Span guard Jose Manuel Calderon suggested the issue had been blown out of proportion.

"I think we're talking about things that don't matter," the Toronto Raptors guard said after the game. "We feel bad, but there is too much talk about it. We are a very multicultural country in Spain. We are for sure going to apologize."

Calderon led Spain with 15 points and Alex Mumbru added 14.

Spain double- and even triple-teamed Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks. German coach Dirk Bauermann said he felt "a few more fouls should have been called." Nowitzki finished with 11 points. Germany plays China Saturday and Spain faces the United States.