Why Lenovo Tenerife won the Basketball Champions League?
Even if they were the favourites the whole season, nobody really thought they will make it. When I saw them almost losing at Prometey in the group phase, I said to myself Lenovo Tenerife is not what it used to be. Then they were beaten 2 times by Ludwigsburg and finally, they had two difficult series against Pinar Karsiyaka and then Tofas Bursa.
Yesterday, in Bilbao Arena 95% of the people were Manresa supporters. Even some journalists from different countries hoped that Baxi Manresa can do it. But that miracle didn’t happen because Tenerife played unselfish basketball, moving the ball and finding the right player to score. Even if Manresa had the MVP of the season (Chima Moneke) and the coach of the year (Pedro Martinez), they had no chance in front of the experience and the collective game practised by their opponents.
Lenovo Tenerife was simply too good, last night. I think they have played their best game in years, giving everything on the court. Every execution seemed so easy and each three-pointer scored as if they would have been in normal practice, not in the final of the BCL.
Baxi Manresa played too much one-on-one which had no success against the collective defense of Tenerife. Even if they had more athleticism than Tenerife, Manresa couldn’t surpass their opponents on any statistic chapter (except free throws). The explanation is easy: Tenerife has the experience, chemistry, long time playing together and knowing each other which is leading them to an unselfish basketball where each player can be MVP.
Image credit: Basketball Champions League
Gratian Cormos is a Romanian life coach, journalist, book writer and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain. You can buy his book “How to bet on basketball” ordering by e-mail at: gratian_cormos@yahoo.com
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