Joventut Badalona continues to fly higher and higher
Joventut Badalona continued it’s dream season with an easy home win in the Palau Olimpic against Polish side Slask Wroclaw.
After a slow start (9-15 after 6 minutes), the Catalans managed to turn the game around in the second quarter and never looked back. At the halftime they were already leading by 13 points and the biggest advantage was 28, with 5 minutes left from the fourth quarter (92-64). Coach Duran had the luxury to play youngsters like Zsombor Maronka and Yannick Kraag and at the end the final score was 97-79.
Simon Birgander shined once again for the winning team. After a double-double versus Barcelona on Sunday, the 24 year old Swedish center recorded another double-double, this time with 16 points and 10 rebounds. He also had the highest PIR in the game (27). Albert Ventura also had a very good game, scoring 16 points. Kerem Kanter (15 points, 7 rebounds) and D’Mitrick Trice (22 points) were the best players for Wroclaw in yesterday’s game.
Both teams qualified for the knock out rounds: while Joventut clinched the first place in Group A and will have homecourt advantage throughout the rest of the season, Wroclaw finished 8th in the group and will have an almost impossible task in the eightfinals (the Polish team will have to face either Gran Canaria or Valencia).
Joventut showed once again that they have great quality and confidence. If the fans will create the atmosphere we saw in the game against Barcelona, when over 12000 people cheered for ‘’Penya’’ in the Palau Olimpic, Joventut will have a really good chance of reaching at least the finals of the EuroCup and qualify for next season’s EuroLeague (they only need to win 3 straight home wins to reach this goal).
*photo: euroleague.basketball.net
