euroleague working day 18
That Jasikevicius is a demanding coach, there is almost no need to remember it. His fierce face when things don’t go well for his team doesn’t change too much when they do. He always wants more. “Let’s not confuse Abrines’ points with playing well,” he said upon returning from the locker room after the break, to which Barcelona left with a ten-point lead in Villeurbanne against Asvel.
Yes, because the Mallorcan player got his team out of a hole with three consecutive triples to lead the Barca recovery in a second quarter in which his scoring tripled that of a first in which although the defense worked reasonably, the laziness in attack was worrying (15-11).
Jasikevicius was right, who did not confuse speed and bacon, and the facts immediately proved him right. A few minutes after saying it, Asvel chained a 12-0 run to get back in front on the scoreboard. Everything that Barca had worked to turn it around, vanished in a few minutes of offensive blackout and defensive imbalances.
From then on, the game was a slide. The Barcelona fans went up the stairs and threw themselves down the ramp. Laprovittola did not appear, and although he maintained the Mirotic type, the French responded to each attempt to relaunch the Barcelona fans. The marker fluctuated like the stock market on an uncertain day, up, down; without finding a pattern. And so almost until the end when a timeout by Jasikevicius made his men stiff in defense with Mirotic firm under the basket, nullifying Fall, and like Abrines in the first half, Higgins appeared in the final minutes, relentless in shooting to put the final figures on the scoreboard.
Jasikevicius was once again clear at the end: “We found Abrines in the first part, and Higgins at the end, but” That’s not what he likes, that’s clear.
Meanwhile, at La Fonteta, Valencia played one of the best games of the season to get rid of the champion Efes, whom they have taken the measure of, since they also beat them in Turkey. In a sensational last quarter (29-15), the team led by Mumbru unmasted Ataman’s team to prevail (81-71) with a sensational game by Jonah Rudebaugh and also by Jose Puerto, who at the last moment of the third quarter, After a very even game, he got a triple that put the light at 52-56, and gave his team the hope of overturning the result.
That basket reactivated Valencia, which became the owner of the field to end up winning by ten points after a choral performance to the enthusiasm of the stands of the Valencian pavilion. Mumbru allowed himself the luxury of putting one of the promises of the quarry, Sergio de Larrea, 1.97 and 17 years old, on the field so that he could enjoy at least a few seconds of the feeling of being part of a revitalizing victory.
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Source: EL PAIS
