The last piece of dominoes on matchday 16 of the Endesa League, which was to be played between this Sunday and this Monday, fell definitively on Sunday with the postponement sine die from Valencia-Granca, scheduled for this Monday at 9:30 p.m., due to the positives for COVID in the islanders. It is the first time that an entire day of the ACB has not been played since the suspension of the 24th in March 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, which stopped the competition for three months until the Valencia bubble in June.
Almost two years later, the scenario is not so dramatic, but it is complicated for the ACB, which has, at the close of this edition, a total of 17 games postponed, 15 pending relocation on a calendar that points to a deadline: January 30, which replaces 9 as the end point of the first round. That day, the eight best in the classification will go to the Copa del Rey in Granada (from February 17 to 20).
The idea is that in these 27 days all the teams recover the games that have been postponed by COVID until they reach 17 mid-season totals. If finally it is not possible, the pass to the tournament of the KO will be decided by the best winning percentage as happened last season.
Cup tickets
Madrid and Barça are the only ones with a ticket. Both have also seen their closest calendar affected by the virus: the whites will play tomorrow against Manresa and not against Joventut as scheduled. The duel against La Penya will be on Sunday. The culés, on the other hand, will be measured with the Baxi on Sunday and not tomorrow. His derby against those of Badalona is on hold.
Urbas Fuenlabrada, San Pablo Burgos and Coosur Betis are ruled out for the Cup. The rest, a total of 13 teams, from the 3rd, the Joventut, to the 15th, the Surne Bilbao, still have mathematical options to acquire one of the six places that are free.