In a great match that was resolved in the final moments, Valencia Basket was able to retain the lead in the ACB League against a Real Madrid that, at times, was one step away from taking it away. The white team, which faltered in the first half, overcame its crisis in the second, led by Facundo Campazzo and Gabi Deck, the Argentine couple, and was in a position to win, take first place and once again lead the team. championship. But Valencia overcame anxiety in the decisive minutes and managed to turn around the score at La Fonteta.
During the first 20 minutes, Madrid could not overcome Valencia’s defensive blockade. Campazzo played uncomfortably in attack and his team noticed it, which only had 30 points when they went to halftime (40-30). The iron discipline of Pedro Martínez’s men was rewarded. They caused Madrid’s mistakes and ran towards the opponent’s basket to score. “I’m waiting for your reaction,” said the local coach.
It came, of course. You cannot expect anything else from a squad with such quality, even though key players like Yabusele or Poirier have left, as well as veterans like Rudy Fernández or Sergio Rodríguez. Thus, Campazzo found the way and, in an inspired start to the second half, managed to turn the result around (49-50) with glimpses, in addition, of not stopping again until the end. With five and a half minutes left, Madrid was winning by six points (69-75), but Valencia gained a few ounces of inspiration to get closer again.
With 1.39m left, the oranges took the lead again (80-79), but Hezonja, always present in the hottest moments, responded with a triple. Once the game was out of control, Chris Jones, another one who raises his finger in moments of pressure, scored to tie it (82-82), with the clock under one minute. Deck, always a guarantee for Madrid, once again put his team ahead, but in the last Valencian attack, with 28 seconds remaining, Costello found space for a comfortable triple that Tavares failed to score and placed the final score ( 85-84), because in the subsequent play, although Madrid had time to score, they missed two attempts, the second in desperation. Therefore, he lost his opportunity to be at the top of the ACB, although, as Pedro Martínez confessed, “at this point, first place is not as important as that my players continue to believe.”
At the Palau, Barcelona did not play comfortably in the first half, but found themselves in the second half to crush Morabanc Andorra (105-79) with Satoransky leading the Blaugranas with 20 points, 6 assists and 4 recoveries. Parra and Brizuela also shone. Meanwhile, in Buesa, Baskonia continues with its tribulations and crashed against Unicaja (88-90) and the scoring success of Osetkowski, who with 26 points was the best on his team, in a match that the Vitorian team could resolve with a missed triple at the horn.
