Euroleague – final_playin – working day 1
Real Madrid already has a rival for him playoffs. It will be Baskonia, a classic duel between the two Spanish teams to settle access to the final four at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin. The Vitorians lost their temper in the second half against Buesa, and Virtus, who had put up a fight during the first twenty minutes, found no answers to Dusko Ivanovic’s approach.
Baskonia and Virtus were risking everything. The Vitorians, return to a playoffs five years later; the Bolognese, playing one for the first time, because despite winning two European titles, they were never in an eight-way tie, so the two teams came out strong. Virtus first with Belinelli, who scored his team’s first ten points, to mark territory, and Baskonia with Sedekerskis, who served as captain and led his team in the first minutes.
So, in the first part, equality was maximum. Nobody dominated beyond four points difference. From the first moment it was appreciated that it would be a matter of resistance; Whoever broke first would lose the game, and no one was up for the job.
The alternatives followed. Although Virtus had more rebounds and his outside shooting percentage was better than Baskonia’s, he also lost more balls, so the forces were balanced. For this reason, at the end of the first half, the scoreboard showed a tie (41-41).
But in the second half everything changed. Suddenly Cody Miller-Mcintyre appeared on the court to lead Baskonia, and at his side Howard with the superman cape to score triples and give assists, and in the blink of an eye, the score shot up above ten points of advantage. Ivanovic’s team came out like a hurricane to quickly find the opponent’s basket and qualify to be among the top eight. With a choral performance, but also with the triples of Howard (8), Sedekerskis (3) and Costello (3), Baskonia did not allow the Italians to cough on them in the final twenty minutes, despite the efforts of Shengelia, who did not resigned to fall. In his old court he was the one who showed some trace of pride, but it didn’t allow him to pass.
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