Bilbao Basket continues its good trajectory in the Champions League

The first, in the bag. It is the most important, precisely for this reason, for paving the way in such a short league, for playing in Miribilla and for taking on Darussafaka, theoretically one of the direct rivals for that second place that leads to the quarterfinals after the favorite and current champion Tenerife. The ACB can win this tournament forever, because the general level is quite weak. Now all the Turkish teams that are not Euroleague can pass through Bilbao, one by one they will be managed. Bahçesehir paraded and now a group with more pedigree, but the profile of the party has been similar. Ponsarnau’s team returned to the tournament more than a month later and perhaps forgot the codes that govern it. It started without tension, as if the European competition did not require setting the same toughness bar as the ACB. And as soon as he got his act together, everything was sewing and singing. He had to work it out to come back in the second half, when he understood that in Europe the game is something else, because the referees are inhibited, they proclaim the classic ‘keep going, keep going’. Up to five men ended up scoring in double figures and seven with that service sheet in valuation. He continues his idyll with the Champions League, where he is leading a very convincing career.

It must be marked by contract: Rabaseda must be the first pitcher in the games. And once again it was fulfilled, with a triple from the corner to open the can. He knows the BCL very well, where he has reigned with Burgos, and his game has been very serious. The ‘men in black’ began commanding, with a They were 16-8 after a three-pointer from Smith, and they may have looked comfortable against a disappointing team, but they seemed surprised by the opponent’s aggressiveness. Because the Darussafaka is not especially physical, but he does go a bit with the bellicosity. Of course, the coach Ernak complained about 31-6 in free throws, a very uneven figure in such a rough game. His pupils reacted with a 2-6 and it was a warning that they were willing to seriously stand up in this second phase. Then a 0-9 worsened, with three-pointers from the Turkish-Albanian Osmani, an interesting player with good movements with his back to the basket and in the three-pointer, and two from McCullough, who put the Ottomans ahead. Ponsarnau tried three little ones, but it didn’t work out. The game was rough, because in Europe blows or slaps are not whistled, and the Biscayans have not just adapted and changed the chip. Visitors were forcefully used on Withey and the atmosphere was somewhat rarefied with a blow to the face of the North American pivot assimilated to Swedish and an uncalled foul on Ozdemiroglu when he was going to leave a tray on the counterattack.

The 12 local losses at the break were a sentence, and the defensive softness, even more. Sulejmanovic was handicapped by feverish problems and Andersson ended up sore from a blow. Smith took the baton to find scoring fluency and Francis Alonso continues in his process of regaining confidence. The one who was denied facing the hoop is Reyes (0/7) although he put a stratospheric plug on Osmani that lifted the staff from their seats. The defense grew and the arbitration criteria varied, clear things began to be whistled. The 57-47 was leaving a path of tranquility in the Biscayan ranks, although Starks, a very fine finisher, refused the destiny of defeat. At the end of the third quarter it was 60-52. He put the Surne one more gear and escaped. Everything was waiting for Hakanson, who also appeared. Rabaseda with two free throws put Bilbao Basket ahead by 13 with 5:32 to go: 71-58. The ‘average’ was protected with ten juiciest points in a group that is going to be very close in that land of mortals far from the stellar Tenerife.

Ponsarnau: “In the second half we understood how hard we had to play”

Ponsarnau stressed that one of the keys to victory was that after the break they understood “how hard they had to play” against the Turkish team. “We entered the game cold and we were surprised by his aggressiveness. In the second half we understood how hard we had to play and that we would have to be aggressive in attack as well”, explained the ‘men in black’ coach in his assessment of the match.

On an individual level, he highlighted the “solidity” that Radicevic contributed “in the face of the problems that Ludde (Hakanson) was having” and also the work of “the two fives (Michale Kyser and Jeff Whitey)” and that of a Sulejmanovic suffering from a process feverish today. He was also “worried” about Andersson’s physical condition after a blow the Swede received in the final stretch. “It will be a tough and closed group with quality teams. It is important to play each possession in the best way because it can be decisive. Darussafaka has shown his level of aggressiveness and can create problems for anyone, ”Ponsarnau stressed about the group that opened on Tuesday with the victory of Lenovo Tenerife over UCAM Murcia.

For his part, the player Francis Alonso also highlighted that in the second half Surne Bilbao put “on the table the standard of intensity that had to be set to win.” “That has been the difference of the game. Personally I am very happy, but it has been a great collective effort to achieve a very important victory for what we want to achieve in this BCL. To continue working and taking advantage of this moment to achieve more victories”, explained the escort from Malaga.