Tenerife already has the couple. Like Burgos. After two years of monopoly, it takes over from this in the Champions League and maintains the overwhelming Spanish supremacy in the tournament that wants to take prestige from the hand of FIBA and place itself ahead of the Eurocup and in the shadow of the Euroleague. The experience of the island team in the championship, which they know inside and out, was decisive in capturing the emotion at the Miribilla event. From the middle of the third quarter, with 54-57, the suspense was over. His eleventh consecutive victory (87-98 to Baxi Manresa) of the season was just a matter of time, of patiently waiting for the fruit to ripen. And to that is added the template that Vidorreta sponsors, with a huge Huertas managing the government at will. His second continental title for him close to forty. The talent does not have an expiration date. He ended between sobs, emotional. We are talking about a point guard who has gone through the Lakers, Baskonia, Barça, Brazil… A well-deserved Final Four MVP. The accounts go like this: if you give 14 propitious assists 28 points and if you score 13 on top, you have left 41 for posterity. Recital of a magician. The second player to record a double-double in a BCL final, after Orelik in 2017.
The five thousand tireless supporters of Manresa planted a Nou Congost in Miribilla, and they still left another five thousand seats free, for the 300 arrived from the Canary Islands, plus the handful of Israelis and Germans, who stayed after witnessing the fight for third and fourth place, which Ludwisburg took against Holon (88- 68). The pavilion was a cry of both Spanish fans united in a chorus: “Teeeenerifeeee!”. Enormous sportsmanship that drowns incidents carried out by Hebrew followers in Bilbao, with two detainees.
To the Manresa it is possible to do very few reproaches to him. It is the very fair revelation team in the ACB due to its enormous virtues and they have the MVP of the Champions League, a Moneke who is pure spectacle. A delight on top with a lot of marketing. But when you’re up against a point guard of Huertas’ caliber and a team that shot 70 percent from the field in the final, you just have to surrender to reality. If one of BAXI’s options was to wait for some hesitation from the favourite, they didn’t give him even half a shot.
The final did not want to be related to the two games on Friday, those of the previous round. It was a huge monument of scoring, without respite, with the attack as a way to seek victory. Both teams have five players with more than 10 points scored. It happens that the Lenovo has many more resources. Manresa started supported by Moneke: at 12-16, only he had scored for Bages. Salin replied. The Finnish escort is a utility knife. Accurate on long shots, he sticks back like a limpet next to him and occupies the precise spaces to not let anyone progress.
The game was pure passion, with Manresa carried on wings by their parish. A triple by Maye gave the Catalans the greatest advantage: 50-46. Moneke took an inadvertent hit from Shermadini in the fight for a rebound and started bleeding from his nose. It was as if a colossus fell, the inspiration for Pedro Martínez, the icon of the Nou Congost and the ACB. Manresa clung tooth and nail to a meeting that was beginning to make it clear that its gasoline is already fair at this point in the course. From 54-57 it went to 56-66 with triples from Doornekamp, Salin and Wiltjer. The Lenovo was already on the good wave and nothing could stop it. The maximum difference was established at 71-89. Maximum party of the two-time champion.