tremendous effort. Tremendous reward. In an unequal distance duel with Madrid, who received the recently promoted Granada, and knowing that Baskonia was visiting Valencia’s house a few hours later, Barça got into a real war that, despite acting on hostile ground, will to come out stronger. The clash was one of the important ones, a 2nd against 4th place in the Endesa League to try to stay in the co-leaderate for another week. Lenovo Tenerife was not looking for a surprise, because it would not have been given its career in this and recent years, but to hit the table to climb the rankings and show that it can make the greats suffer. And what if the Barça team had a bad time. The 76-79, one shot away from extra time, speaks volumes about how competitive everything was. And, to get out of the way, of the morale that the winners are going to take after finishing a week with a triplet of victories.
In the previous one, Barça had received a stick: Nikola Kalinic He has an injury to the sole of his left foot and the club treated him when reporting it with a view to missing several games. Significant. The glue of this team, a flashy signing this summer, worries for the nearest future. A situation to watch. In the local team, one of the sharpest men was also missing, Jaime Fernandezwhose absence was equally noticeable in a game that required players to open the show.
Sasu Salin, Txus Vidorreta’s specialist shooter, perfectly exemplified his performance on the last play. With three down and an action in which the ball landed in his hands, he being alone to shoot the triple, he didn’t even want to shoot. He passed it to Doornekamp and he was the one who missed. The Finn, with 0/5 in field goals and 1 point in 23 minutes, was dried up by the defense of a hypermotivated Kyle Kuric, craving minutes after having stayed in the fridge for more than one and more than two games this season. The Canarias, after coming back from -12 and having Sarunas Jasikevicius’ men in the palm of their hand, erred in the actions in which you have to be colder. A victory that exudes confidence for what is to come, of being used to it, of those that show the way. The Lithuanian coach has said several times, this season and the previous one, that he wanted more bastard players, explicitly like that, who knew how to kill games, and here they made it difficult for him and the goal went to his locker.
The first bet was competed, face to face, to set the tone. The confrontation was sold as a duel at the top of the League table and that was how it had to be reflected. Equality became the mold until, with the entry of substitutes, the trend changed. He went to something close to a Barça roller. In attack and defense they got away with it. Shermadini held up, but he didn’t chase them when he had to protect his hoop and Barça’s interiors were growing. Sanli started with a 5/5 shooting; Vesely, with 4/4. And the external resources were very different: while Kuric launched himself into a run like mad, to tie up or score, Vidorreta’s men signed a calamitous 1/10 in triples between the first two periods.
With all this, Barcelona took its +12 (30-42, minute 16) to end up dominating when the half-time break came. And he came out of the same spell, losing balls and composure, to receive a 12-2 run that would balance everything.
Huertas took command to order the attacks with even greater success than in his first attempt in the match. Fitipaldo, as the second builder of the attacks, appeared. And on the opposite side, the opposite: Satoransky was terrified of the tackles he made so hard before leaving for America, Higgins seemed like a shadow of his most successful self who had no influence on the game and, of course, the rival he threw on
Hot minutes, with Cook putting a knee in the back and a bad idea to Mirotic (and it made less sense that it was not signaled unsportsmanlike despite being reviewed), and with the public entering to play as Lenovo Tenerife’s sixth man. This second, as it has to be. There Barça was getting into the lion’s den.
Marcelinho was once again the one who did the most damage to the Catalans with his blocks and reblocks, shots on one leg and movement of chips to undermine the defense. They went six up and that’s where Barça’s mettle came out, with a triple from Mirotic and another from Laprovittola, to respond forcefully at the most difficult moment. It was a blow to the confidence of the locals, who were thrown towards victory at that point.
With only 1:36 remaining, Shermadini, an ACB MVP, missed two free throws after Sanli, with improved percentages, put the Barça advantage with a three-pointer. Mirotic did hit both of his shots and Salin and Doornekamp didn’t respond well.
|
6
Bruno Fitipaldo |
|
10
Sasu Salin |
|
23
Elgin Cook |
|
twenty-one
Tim Abromaitis |
|
35
Fran Guerra |
|
9
Marcelinho Huertas |
|
19
Giorgi Shermadini |
|
42
Aaron Doornekamp |
|
31
Leandro Bolmaro |
|
4
Sergio Rodriguez |
|
90
louis riga |
|
12
Moussa Diagne |
| Min | pts | RT | RO | DR | Ast | Per | rec | Tap | T1 | T2 | T3 | FR | CF | Val | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
6
Bruno Fitipaldo | 26 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/2 | 2/6 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
|
10
Sasu Salin | 23 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1/2 | 0/1 | 0/4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
|
23
Elgin Cook | 23 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 2/2 | 1/2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | |
|
twenty-one
Tim Abromaitis | twenty | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/3 | 0/0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |
|
35
Fran Guerra | fifteen | 12 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2/2 | 5/10 | 0/0 | 3 | 2 | eleven | |
|
9
Marcelinho Huertas | 26 | twenty | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4/4 | 8/12 | 0/1 | 3 | 2 | 26 | |
|
19
Giorgi Shermadini | 23 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8/10 | 4/6 | 0/0 | 6 | 2 | 22 | |
|
42
Aaron Doornekamp | twenty | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 2/5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | |
|
31
Leandro Bolmaro | 19 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0/0 | 3/6 | 0/2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |
|
4
Sergio Rodriguez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
|
90
louis riga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
|
12
Moussa Diagne | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
|
33
Nikola Mirotic |
|
24
Kyle Kuric |
|
13
Thomas Satoransky |
|
twenty
Nicholas Laprovittola |
|
5
Sertac Sanli |
|
6
Jan Veseley |
|
twenty-one
Alex Abrines |
|
31
Rokas Jokubaitis |
|
22
Cory Higgins |
|
1
oscar da silva |
|
3
Oriol Pauli |
|
46
james naji |
| Min | pts | RT | RO | DR | Ast | Per | rec | Tap | T1 | T2 | T3 | FR | CF | Val | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
33
Nikola Mirotic | 29 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4/4 | 3/4 | 1/6 | 3 | 2 | fifteen | |
|
24
Kyle Kuric | 28 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 2/5 | 3/5 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |
|
13
Thomas Satoransky | 27 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0/2 | 2/5 | 1/3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | |
|
twenty
Nicholas Laprovittola | 22 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2/2 | 0/4 | 1/2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | |
|
5
Sertac Sanli | twenty-one | 18 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 6/6 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 18 | |
|
6
Jan Veseley | 18 | fifteen | 5 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3/4 | 6/6 | 0/0 | 3 | 4 | 19 | |
|
twenty-one
Alex Abrines | 17 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 1/5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
|
31
Rokas Jokubaitis | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1/2 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | |
|
22
Cory Higgins | eleven | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/3 | 0/0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
|
1
oscar da silva | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/0 | 0/1 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | -1 | |
|
3
Oriol Pauli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
|
46
james naji | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |