A balanced game between Iberostar Tenerife and Joventut Badalona
In Round 22 of Liga Endesa, Iberostar Tenerife host Joventut Badalona in a balanced and interesting match. After a long break, due to the Spanish Cup, Tenerife came back in action after being eliminated in the Cup’s quarterfinals by MoraBanc Andorra. For Joventut, this is the first game after 20 days. Who is more prepared for this game?
Despite being eliminated in the quarterfinals of Spanish Cup, for Tenerife, the season continues as they aim to reach the playoffs of the Liga Endesa and to win the Basketball Champions League one more time. In BCL the journey begins against Oostende on Tuesday at home, so this tough match is a good test before that European game. For Joventut the season is a little bit more complicated as they currently sit on 12th position with a 9-12 record, two wins away from Valencia and Unicaja, who are on 7th and 8th position with the same record. For sure they will try to get the playoffs, but there are several stronger teams than them ahead with the same aim, like Baskonia, Unicaja or San Pablo Burgos. They have a tough match against Unicaja in Eurocup, but they are already eliminated, as both games against Tofas were lost in the group.
In their last meeting, Joventut came out victorious 77-73 after a very good first three quarters. A the beginning of the last one, Joventut had 20 points ahead and got relaxed, while Tenerife fought until the last seconds to try to make a nice comeback but was unsuccessful. The main scorers of the game were: Klemen Prepelic (18 points) and Luke Harangody (12 points and 8 rebounds) for Joventut, while for Tenerife were Giorgi Shermandini (20 points) and Sasu Salin (15 points). Since then, Tenerife added to their squad 3 new players in Giorgios Bogris, Aaron White and Dino Radoncic, while Darion Atkins left the team. For Joevntut, Nikolaos Zisis and Perrin Buford left the team and as replacements were added Tony Wroten and veteran Oliver Stevic.
In order to have a chance in this game, Joventut must find their rhythm, as they lost 7 of their last 10 games. They need to show more strength and focus as they showed in the game against Real Madrid, 3 games before, when they won in Madrid 86-83, causing a big surprise for Real’s fans. Tenerife has the first chance here because they play at home and will also play at home the next game from BCL, which means they can play at maximum, with no concerns.
Photo: Basketball Champions League
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
