Euroleague day 9
This Baskonia has definitely changed its face. There is nothing left, or very little, of that sad team overcome by circumstances that suffered a painful 0-6 at the start of the Euroleague. Paolo Galbiati’s team seems to have finally found its way and has now won four consecutive victories, three in European competitions (Dubai, Efes and Virtus) plus a very worthy one in the Liga ACB against Tenerife, who arrived as leaders against Vitória and left with their first defeat of the season. This Thursday they minimized Virtus Bologna in the first quarter, with an advantage almost always above ten points. The fact that Carsen Edwards, a lethal shooter, finished the first ten minutes with zero points says a lot about the defensive work of Galbiati’s team. The American scoring machine finished with 13 points and a rating of 3, with very poor shooting percentages (4/16).
The victory against Dubai last week was a turning point in a team that regained its joy on the field, ratified two days later against Efes and on Sunday against Tenerife, yes, all home games, like today’s against Virtus. The challenge now for Baskonia is to seal this change in the game and in the results starting this week, with trips to Lleida in the ACB on Sunday, and that comes with trips to Sofia and Belgrade to face the Israeli exiles, Hapoel and Maccabi Tel Aviv, in the Euroleague, and Barcelona to face the culés again in national competitions.
Baskonia’s game was intense throughout the game, showing speed in attack and intensity in defense. Not in vain, the coach of the Italian national team, Dusko Ivanovic, a legend on the Alava team’s bench, recognized at the end of the match that the big difference had been the physicality presented by Galbiati’s men. Hamidou Diallo, protagonist of the Baskonista team’s attack in the first half, stood out in this sense, playing one of the most complete games since arriving at Vitória (14 points, 6 rebounds and an increase of 17). The American was very well supported by one of the best versions of the season in Tadas Sederkerkis (13 points, 4 rebounds for a PIR of 16), strong in defensive work and clairvoyant in attack, and by Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot who appeared in hot moments.
Baskonia reached the break with a clear advantage (46-34), and in the third it looked like the locals would control the match. But Virtus Bologna weren’t going to make things easy. Carsen Edwards has not yet appeared, but the Italian team got closer on the scoreboard thanks to a spectacular Niang (18 points, 12 rebounds and rating of +35). A partial score of 0-9 for the Italians put them on the brink of a comeback. They were just one point away (58-57 with a minute and a half left in the third quarter), but a technical for Derrick Alston Jr. That’s when Luwawu-Cabarrot and Markquis Nowell appeared, with two triples that gave it life. Baskonia stretched again at the end of the third period and at the beginning of the last quarter until they achieved a maximum advantage of 16 points and reached victory without suffering too many difficulties (87-76).
The match also ended as it began, with a tribute to Achille Polonara, former Baskonia and Virtus player and patient with myeloid leukemia. If at the beginning all the players and coaching staff of both teams posed with a banner that included the motto Achi Forceand the captains of both teams, Sedekerskis and Pajola, took out a Barça shirt with his name and his legendary number 33 – with which he assisted Vildoza’s basket that gave Baskonia the ACB title in 2020 -, at the end of the match it was Galbiati, in Spanish and Italian statements to Movistar who sent, with the Polonara shirt in hand, encouragement to the Italian international who is fighting to save his life.