Baskonia disappointed this season

In Game 2 of Liga Endesa Quarter-finals, Zaragoza made a huge surprise. Not only by beating Baskonia 76-69, but they swept Vitoria based club 2-0 and advanced in the semifinals, despite being heavy underdogs before this series. Let’s see how was the game according to the statistics.

This game was one with ups and downs for Baskonia. In the first quarter, Zaragoza made 75% of their shots and won it with a staggering 26-9. In the next two quarters, Baskonia managed to find their rhythm and won them 46-23, and that gave them a 6-point lead before the final quarter. But the final quarter was one to forget for Baskonia. They made 13 personal fouls, which allowed Zaragoza to score 15 points only from the free-throw line. In the end, the final quarter ended 27-14 for the home team and that gave them a 7-point margin. Baskonia finished with 31 personal fouls and Zaragoza used those chances in their favour, scoring 25 out of 32 free throws. We can easily say that this is the thing that made the difference.

The main scorers for Zaragoza were Nemanja Radovic with 16 points and 6 rebounds, Javier Justiz with 14 points and 5 rebounds and Stan Okoye with 10 points and 4 rebounds. For Baskonia the main scorers were Jayson Granger with 14 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Tornike Shengelia- 12 points and 4 rebounds and Johannes Voigtmann – 10 points and 5 rebounds. Shengelia, Voigtmann and Poirier had 5 fouls each.

In a season when the expectations were very high, the disappointment is even bigger. They didn’t qualify in the Euroleague Final Four and lost the chance to compete at home ground, being eliminated by CSKA Moscow, the current champions, and they didn’t qualify for Liga Endesa semifinals, a result that shocked almost everybody. But, this year Baskonia is far from their best seasons. The lack of important players was visible on the court. Besides Shengelia and Granger, the other players do not play constantly well and they don’t give everything on the court. In order to aim big results in the next season, I think Baskonia needs to reshape their roster and add players that really want to play and show more fight and dedication for a basketball club with many fans.

Bogdan Vasile Tirc, info@brainbasketball.net

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