Bilbao Basket party in its 600th match in the ACB League

Bilbao Basket celebrated its 600th match in the ACB with a great victory at the Príncipe Felipe, where a whole Real Madrid fell. The ‘men in black’ broke a drought of almost two months without winning away and are once again picking up a positive dynamic. Ponsarnau, whistled in the presentation, took his particular revenge after being dismissed last year in the city of El Pilar. Hakanson fell at the last minute due to muscle problems. Andersson and Kyser, on the day of their 32nd birthday, were the best in a fight that began with a historic jam: 10-5 in the first quarter. Faced with the offensive finesse of the previous day against Fuenlabrada, this time it was about imposing the trade in the middle of the thicket. With defense, discipline and order, this job is done. It will be the merit of these people to dwarf their rivals, the Madrid team based on records and Zaragoza, cutting off the climb that was leading by the hand of Fisac. The ‘Porfi effect’ is dynamited. The 250 fans displaced from the Biscayan capital celebrated it in style. The bitterness of the 0-4 is quelled and now the Basque team even puts itself in Cup numbers. Suffering, learning from mistakes and setting the bar for competitiveness very high almost tastes better than a walk like the 109-82 against Carplus .

Running out of Hakanson, the franchise player, is no longer a fact that shrinks this Bilbao Basket accustomed to blows this season. On the contrary, he had solidarity and grabbed the clash with the people on the bench. He made good that in the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king. It wasn’t the Warriors of the golden age but it seemed like it before the disastrous game completed by their rival, who played the worst match of the Fisac ​​era with very poor success rates: 36% on two-pointers and 22% on three-pointers. Yes indeed, Ponsarnau’s troops started very cold, in a very disjointed game. Two minutes and 35 seconds without scoring either of them. Jessup opened the scoring in the middle of a runner. And the Surne did not open the account for six minutes. The two teams got very physical and Zaragoza, who came with sky-high morale after two straight victories, against Betis and Madrid, was the least bad at that dawn.

Bilbao Basket abused the pot, the ball hardly circulated, he was 1-for-11 shooting. She found neither the advantages nor the spaces to generate them. So he set out to grow from defense, share the responsibilities and wait for someone to find inspiration. From that work back he was getting into work. The pyrrhic 10-5 at the end of the first quarter was to start trembling, figures inappropriate for two elite professional teams. It was hard to do worse, so whatever came would give wings. They did not chain two plays with order or criteria. The staging of Reyes and the audacity of Ubal gave that point to break a tedious evening. A 0-9 allowed the Basques to lead the score. This time Mara was hardly seen, just a stopper through the skies. The rojillos were nervous and accelerated, and did not give a right.

Andersson put everything in: two blocks here, triples, six little rebounds… a knife from Albacete. Multipurpose. Kyser also helped put the lock on the area. He scored a 3 + 1 and the visitors already had the initiative, they better protected the ball against an opponent who has based a large part of his reaction this year on the losses caused to the opponent. Porfi put a ‘box and one’ with individual on Alonso to break a rhythm that condemned them. With Radicevic, Surne plays more orderly and balanced. The job on Jessup was fantastic. He reached fluency and patience, until 42-55, although in various phases Zaragoza was spared his life. Ubal made a rookie mistake facing Garcia, that activated the public and unleashed a cauldron. “Uruguasho, uruguasho”, sang the visiting fans. Then Smith pulled chevrons. Casademont Zaragoza is a disaster when things don’t work out; He did not show signs of reacting until the end, when everything was already lost, it was too late because the Bilbao team did not allow him to complete the comeback. Simanic scored a great triple at 1:15 to finish: 67-70, but Alonso from the free throw line and Kyser with a stratospheric block to Yusta solved the ballot. This team has character and not only in Miribilla, they also want to play abroad after the skids in Granada, Lugo and Tenerife. It is already in a positive balance: 5-4. Now, to continue perfect in the Champions League. Ponsarnau, always elegant, dodged questions about whistling: “Some have whistled my name. I still have a very special appreciation for this city and I will continue to do so. I have a family and I hope to come here for many years to play”. The Bilbao party broke out in style. An illuminated sign was placed on the bus home: ‘Jaumeneta” And Captain Rabaseda shouted to those who heard him: “Get on! Go up!”

Fisac: “We have a trust problem when things don’t work out for us”

Porfirio Fisac ​​has pointed out after the defeat that his team has a trust problem when things don’t work out for them. “Decisions are made but we strayed from the basketball criteria that we want to do and from there everything is dirtier. You have to reach a number of victories all together and do it all along the same path ”, he argued. He explained that they had started the game “with good judgment, discipline and rhythm” but the degree of success had been “very bad” and that this had taken away their individual confidence. “We were playing at his pace, very crazy, without linking plays with a certain order and criteria. We have made more triples in the last few minutes than in the rest of the game. The rest of the actions have diminished us due to missing easy shots ”, he has analyzed.

The coach of the ‘rojillo’ team considers that his players have a good attitude and disposition but that it is difficult for them to overcome the fact that things do not go well for them. Fisac ​​explained that they were interested in a score with more points and that the low degree of success they had had had not allowed it. “The start of the game has weighed us down, more than in the result in the game, because that confidence dynamic did not exist. We could have played a different game and Bilbao’s longer possessions and control of the game have given them the game”, he assessed.

Ponsarnau: “We have stopped the bad run away from home and that is the lesson”

Ponsarnau, has indicated that they have stopped the bad streak they had away from home and that this was the lesson for themselves. “There are some important challenges. The home run is the most positive, we have only lost one game but not so much away. We have stopped this streak outside and that is the great lesson for us ”, he explained. The coach of “the men in black” has analyzed that the game had started with both teams very thick although Casademont was playing very physical and better while Bilbao was “bad and very out of space”.

“They were doing good physical work and we were not there. Little by little we have gotten into the game thanks to the defense. We have done good things back and we have acted well on Jessup and his penetrators. We had defensive successes because we have not had many losses ”, he has assessed. Ponsarnau added that despite not playing well, they were in the game until their moment appeared thanks to the fact that they had “more fluidity and patience” while the Aragonese team had found it difficult to maintain their physical level in the last seconds of possession. “The team has been solid and gripping and in that we have found players who have given us that defensive ground”, he commented.