Valencia Basket was unable to deal with a Zalgiris in a state of grace. The Kaunas team, the best in attack and defense in the Euroleague, painfully defeated Pedro Martínez’s team (86-77). The Barcelona coach made it clear the day before that this was not the game that worried him most of the many that await him this season. “It’s great if we win and if we lose the championship continues…”
His team managed to be competitive in one of the most uncomfortable corners of the Euroleague, the Zalgirio Arena, where they faced the most toned opponent in Europe in front of a warm crowd that gathered in a monumental pavilion. Pedro Martínez’s team was not intimidated, someone who knows October’s MVP, Sylvain Francisco, Zalgiris’ brain, very well, who trained in Manresa and who tested his entire battery of bases. The ‘taronja’, against an opponent so well-worked in defense, failed to score three points. Still, he met Zalgiris, even in the minutes in which Pedro Martínez opted for a very tough quintet, with Braxton Key’s debut with Valencia in the Euroleague and Isaac Nogués, who plays little but always takes advantage with excellent defensive work.
Zalgiris did an extraordinary job in defense, stopping the penetrations of Valencia’s smaller players very well and being very aggressive under the basket, with a lot of presence from Azuolas Tubelis. In attack, he let himself be carried away by Francisco’s speed, who always found the best option for his team. Tomas Masiulis knows that his rival drowns when he can’t run and he focused a lot of effort on this task. If the defensive transition was crushed by the speed of the ‘taronja’, the coach didn’t mind that his players committed personal fouls in exchange for stopping Valencia’s counterattacks. A non-negotiable bet. With this approach, the Lithuanian team seemed to dominate the match a minute before the break (35-28), but at that moment Jean Montero appeared to settle the game and be able to close the second quarter with options (38-35).
The best thing about Valencia is that they were not defeated by Zalgiris’ good defensive decisions. The taronja team showed patience, without losing their calm, and in the third quarter, with Sergio de Larrea in command, they once again showed their head on the scoreboard (42-43). The talent of Omari Moore challenged the strength of Moses Wright, who dominated the rebounding with Tubelis (18 rejections between the two).
The game began to fall apart and, although Zalgiris dominated the board, he entered the final quarter with a higher scoring pace and with Valencia happy to finally be able to run. The two teams, in a relentless and exciting confrontation, advanced side by side. No major differences and no clear dominator. Each one took advantage of their strengths and this helped both as the minutes passed.
Masiulis left the two teams exchanging blows while keeping Francisco in formaldehyde. The coach eliminated him with five minutes left to sentence the fall. The Frenchman went on to decide the duel, which lasted as long as Jaime Pradilla resisted. But at the last moment Zalgiris, a very balanced team, without big stars, prevailed and recorded their seventh victory.
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