Benfica debuted with a huge win against Donar in BasketballCL pre-qualifiers
The first round of Basketball Champions League pre-qualifiers started yesterday and I focussed my attention on the match between Benfica Lisbon and Donar Groningen. Both teams added many new players, especially American players in order to improve their roster and compete for a Champions League regular season spot.
The match started on Benfica leading by 3-0 and they never let that leading going away. In the first quarter, they already outscored the Dutch with 26-13. In the second quarter the history was the same, winning the quarter 21-14, giving them a 20 points lead. All in all the game had no history so, in the end, Benfica won the match by a 30 points difference, 95-65, giving them a comfortable lead before the second leg.
What made the real difference was the 3-point shooting percentages. Benfica made 53% (16-30), while Groningen had only 23% (6-26) from the three-point line. Two new Americans players, added this summer, Carrington Love and Matt Williams Jr made only 2 shots out of 15 attempts. In the rebounds battle, the Portuguese team dominated Groningen, 50-35. The main contributors for Benfica were: Joao Gomes (21 points and 6 rebounds), Micah Downs (20 points and 5 assists) and Toure Murry (17 points and 8 assists). For Groningen worth to be mentioned is only Donte Thomas with 16 points and 7 rebounds.
Benfica simply smashed their rivals by a big margin, impossible to remove. Groningen simply can’t make a comeback after this huge victory, so I think Benfica’s thoughts are pointed out through their next opponent, Mornar Bar, a very tough to break team. Benfica has a good roster and some good local and American players and they can make some noise this year. They need to win the National Championship back because there is a two-year drought and that simply can’t happen to a team with such a huge fanbase and history behind.
Photo credit: championsleague.basketball
Bogdan Vasile Tirc
