The CB Canarias has already done half the work in honor of the ACB. The table is set for the Spanish banquet. If Miribilla is waiting for a final between teams from our country, the islanders have fulfilled the forecast and challenge Manresa to do the same against Ludwigsburg. The Tenerife thing is pure routine. They have been parading through five of the last six Champions League finals and reaching the third final seemed like just a routine. Nobody has stepped on the final fight for the cup so many times. That is his job. With ‘mister BCL’ at the helm, a Vidorreta who holds the record for games and victories in the tournament, everything is on track.
It was a serious match, with Huertas and Shermadini at the wheel holding the reins as expected and interesting contributions from Fitipaldo and Guerra.. With two good base pairs and fives everything looks easier. But they had to work it out against a Hapoel Holon, who, led by an old acquaintance like Ragland, held on to the match based on one-on-one actions and did not leave until the final blow. A triple by Menco, also stellar, put the Israelis with a point advantage at 3:47 to finish (69-68). Every time they reacted, Tenerife punished them by loading the game on Shermadini. Again the premise was fulfilled. Impotence took over the Holon and Johnson was punished with technique for angrily protesting a possible foul. Doornekamp and Witjer put the lace.
End of a game without great quality but very exciting that opened the Final Four of Miribilla. But these drinks have to be passed like this, violins are not needed. It’s about being practical.. The more than a thousand Hebrew fans were attentive at 9:02 p.m., the time that night falls today in Bilbao, since they must be picked up when they meet on the Sabbath. They gave a spectacular color and if Vidorreta expected to feel like in his house for the love of his countrymen, the visitors dominated in shouts and encouragement from beginning to end.
The islanders arrived after nine consecutive victories in the Champions League. They know the lyrics of this tournament by heart. They started 0-7 and Goodes had to call a timeout after three minutes. He launched his Zack Under the Hoop maker account soon after. The Israeli team has an army of North American players who go free and shoot within seconds of possession, while the chicharreros, faithful to Vidorreta’s script, were more organized and followed the usual parameters of generating from the ‘pick and roll ‘ with Huertas and Shermadini. The Brazilian point guard was a hammer. If they left him without a pass collapsing the zone or in the 6.75, he would stop in the middle distance and throw like the angels.
Goodes tried to cut the yellow rhythm by teaching a zone in defense and then go to individual. Hapoel was 12 behind, but clung to hope at the impulse of their shooters. The Lenovo covered the passing lines very well and caused losses in its rival. Salin shone in the quartermaster. Johnson hooked two triples that lit up the yellow fans: 57-61. But immediately the reaction of the people of Tenerife arrived. The Holon tried four large ones and then three small ones. Nothing off centered the favourite.
71 – Hapoel U-NET Holon (13+20+18+20): Ragland (22), Chris Johnson (13), Pnini (4), Dalton (2) and Kyser (2) -starting five-; McGee (5), Adam Smith (4), Menco (15) and Zack (4).
78 – Lenovo Tenerife (20+22+17+19): Marcelinho Huertas (17), Sastre (8), Doornekamp (8), Wiltjer (8) and Shermadini (14) -initial five-; Fitipaldo (8), Salin (6), Guerra (9), Sergio Rodríguez, Dejan Todorovic and Sulejmanovic.
Referees: Yohan Rosso, FRA), Saverio Lanzarini (ITA) and Martins Kozlovskis (LET). Eliminated by fouls Menco (m.40) and Johnson (m.40).
Incidents: First semifinal of the Final Four of the Champions League that takes place at the Bilbao Arena in Miribilla before some 6,000 spectators. Of them, about 2,000 followers of Holon and about 300 of Tenerife.
Marcelinho wants to reign in Bilbao
Marcelinho Huertas, Lenovo Tenerife’s top scorer and most valuable player in the semifinal, considered it “an honor to fight for a title” in Bilbao, the city where he played in the 2007-2008 season. “It is a special satisfaction, but now we are going to approach the final well and if we win we will celebrate it in style”, stressed the Brazilian base in the press conference that he shared with his coach, Txus Vidorreta from Bilbao, who admitted that it could be “very special and exciting” to lift the trophy in his city.
“For Marce (Huertas) Bilbao it was the launch of her sporting career and I’m sure it will also be exciting for me, but the focus is not now on the ‘post-match’ of the final but rather on the ‘pre’ and on our rival. The same that today playing well we have suffered the final will be tremendous and very even”, he pointed out.
Regarding the match, Vidorreta stressed that they were right “by giving key players short breaks so that they arrived fresh at the end” and highlighted their superiority in rebounding. “We knew that rebounding was not one of his virtues, but we have grabbed a lot of rebounds because we have failed a lot. We are happy because it is something that penalizes us and also because we have responded well to his 10-0,” he said, recalling the partial he put by ahead of Holon (69-68) with just under four minutes to go.