The promotion to the LEB Oro is in a handkerchief. With just three days to go before the conclusion of the regular phase, there are only two teams with mathematical options to win Second Division and be promoted directly to the Endesa League next Friday, May 20: the Covirán Granada and the Movistar Students. Both are tied for the top of the table with 24 wins and 7 losses in 31 games.
The IGC Força Lleida, third, is the only one that can catch them with a balance of 21-10… but it could never overcome them having the mean lost with both. With the Nasrids it is -1 and with the schoolboys, -19.
The averge particular is also key in the head duel. Granada has it won after having won the two games between them this season. A) Yes, Andalusians will ascend directly to the ACB if they do the same as Ramireños. The people of Madrid, for their part, have to win one more duel than their rival.
Calendar
The calendar in this final stretch of the regular phase favors Covirán a priori. Pablo Pin’s team is measured away from home with two teams in full fight for the promotion playoff (TAU Castelló and Cáceres) and at home with one that is fighting to avoid relegation (Almansa). Castelló (7th, 17-14) is the first rival, this Friday 6 (8:45 p.m.), then hosts Almansa (13th, 12-19) and closes in Extremadura (9th, 17-14).
Movistar’s rivals are stronger on paper. At least two, Basketball Girona and Easycharger Palencia, fourth and fifth, respectively, with the same balance of 19-12. The Palentinos are their first stumbling block, this Sunday at the WiZink Center (12:30). Then, the trip to Marc Gasol’s house will arrive and he will close the LEB Oro at the Palace against Unicaja Oviedo, who is fighting for the playoff. The Asturians are eighth with 17 wins, the same as TAU and Cáceres. Acunsa Gipuzkoa is on the prowl with 15 wins in tenth position.
This scenario of maximum equality between Granada and Estudiantes seemed highly unlikely a little less than a month ago, when the Andalusians took the Palace (68-70) after falling a week earlier on that same stage in the Copa Princesa. The Nasrid victory put a land in between (triumph of advantage plus the mean) that seemed insurmountable.
Granada defeats
The order was already established… but Covirán wanted to add excitement to the matter with two defeats (Gipuzkoa and Juaristi) in their last four games. Stumbles that gave extra bullets to an Estu who only took advantage of one after falling in Coruña, a defeat that took Jota Cuspinera off the bench and brought in Diego Epifanio.
With Epi on the bench, the schoolboys have improved their performance and have left the three rivals against whom they have faced breathless: Gipuzkoa (87-65), Palma (105-71) and Huesca (49-83). A superiority that may have arrived late for the regular phase, but that can serve in the final rounds.