CBA working day 33
The best thing about Barcelona’s victory on the Buesa Arena court, where only Lenovo Tenerife had managed to win in the entire regular season, is not that it certified, in its fight with Baskonia, its first position, which puts it ahead for the playoffs for the title, but the good feelings ahead of the trip to Kaunas, where they will face their great old acquaintance, Real Madrid, in the first game of the Final Four.
In Vitoria, Jasikevicius’s men decided the match in the third quarter, when Baskonia faltered. His power on the rebound, the appearance of Abrines, who in addition to drying Howard, had enough inspiration to score six three-pointers out of eight attempts, and the exquisite contribution of Laprovittola, disarmed the team from Vitoria, who saw how the team faded when Thompson was taking a breather, and despite the good work of Marinkovic, which has grown exponentially in recent months.
The people of Vitoria held up well in the first part. They knew what was at stake and thanks to their scoring efficiency, they withstood Barcelona’s pressure well, which took the form of rebounding, especially the offensive one, which gave them new opportunities to score. Despite the fact that Hommes suffered against Mirotic, Baskonia’s aim kept them alive. They left at the end of the first quarter, very scoring, with a three-point deficit (24-21), but they cloned the result backwards in the second, when Barcelona’s ideas clouded a bit and Jasikevicius ordered an unusual five-fold substitution to 3.18m for the break. The game had gone from 24-31 to 36-34, and the decision of the Barça coach balanced the situation.
Then, after the break, Barça tightened the screws, dried Howard, pressed in defense and was effective, with Laprovittola, in attack, which greatly conditioned Baskonia’s game. The numbers that Barça reached in the third period were decisive for the final score, and that Baskonia lost their hopes of finishing first in the regular phase of the championship. They still have a stumbling block, in Girona, to ensure second place, because a few hours before the game in Vitoria, Real Madrid, which is still competing for second place, unceremoniously and quite easily got rid of Gran Canaria (67- 95), with the French Yabusele and Causeur, leading the white troops. Chus Mateo’s team established their superiority in the second quarter (22-31) and ratified it with an overwhelming score in the last (8-24), when the canaries had already lost their strength.
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