Do-or-die for Baskonia in Liga Endesa
Do-or-die for Baskonia in Liga Endesa
In the first round of 2018-2019 Liga Endesa playoffs, Baskonia met Zaragoza in a game where everybody gave few chances to the 6th seed Zaragoza to win a game against 3rd seed Baskonia.
Baskonia came in this game after a very good season. They have reached the Euroleague`s Final 8, giving a hard time to CSKA Moscow, the reigning champions. The Spanish team managed to get a win on Russian court, but they lost both games at home and therefore they lost the chance to play in the Final 4 in front of their own fans in Fernando Buesa Arena.
In the domestic league, Baskonia finished third after Real Madrid and Barcelona. In the end, they finished with only 2 defeats more than the first place, Real Madrid. In the first round of Liga Endesa playoffs, they were drawn against Zaragoza, a team that had only one win more than the 9th place, Iberostar Tenerife. Also for this round, they got a boost after Jayson Granger fully recovered after an injury.
But the first game didn`t go as Baskonia`s fans expected. Zaragoza was able to win the first game, 91-81. For Baskonia the main contributors were Vincent Poirier (21 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals) and Jayson Granger (21 points, 4 assists and 3 rebounds). For Zaragoza, the key players were Stan Okoye (22 points and 7 rebounds) and 33-years old Shooting Guard, Renaldas Seibutis (16 points, 6 assists and 2 steals). Looking at the match stats, it was very balanced. Both teams shot 50% of their attempts and Zaragoza had 32 rebounds and 23 assists while Baskonia finished with 31 rebounds and 20 assists.
It was a huge blow for Vitoria`s based club, a result that put their season on danger, because the game 2 will take place in Pabellon Principe Felipe, Zaragoza`s 11000 seats home court. We saw in the first game that everything is possible and in a close game, small differences can make a huge impact. I expect a nice contest in game 2 and a Baskonia team that will turn things up. The element of surprise is gone for Zaragoza.
Bogdan Vasile Tirc, info@brainbasketball.net
