After scoring the last eleven points for Valencia Basket and toppling Panathinaikos by a three pointer, Chris Jones once again led his team to victory on Sunday by scoring his last nine points to come from behind against a side from Gran Canaria who dominated much of the clash but ultimately saw their four-game Endesa League winning streak cut short against a rival who are once again addicted to the playoff zone ahead of the Cup.
Gran Canaria started more focused and intense than Valencia and Olek Balcerowski’s first-rotation appearance found the attacking balance he needed after starting more accurately from the line of three than near the basket. The mobility but also the strike force of the Polish interior and to a lesser extent of Damien Inglis gave meaning to the good circulation of the ball of Jaka Lakovic’s team and put the Valencian defense in difficulty.
Until they managed to connect their defence, the hosts survived thanks to a few streaks, the first from Jonah Radebaugh and the second from Jaime Pradilla. Álex Mumbrú had to push his team to close the paths of his hoop and force his rival to make an extra pass that he was not always able to chain, an improvement which, with the reappearance of Bojan Dubljevic, allowed him to take a few in advance. time.
But the lack of control over the rebound, with Nico Brussino leading the visitors on this side, forced Valencia to refine their shot from the line of three to minimize the half-time damage of not having controlled the clash ( 39-40, m.20).
The visitors started the second part even better. Three almost consecutive three-pointers from Andrew Albicy saw Gran Canaria open the gap and although Chris Jones and Víctor Claver plugged the ‘wound’, control of the scoreboard and initiative of the game continued with visitors (50-56, m. 27).
Home pressure mounted with several interceptions and Ferran Bassas and Vítor Benite found it much harder to make the visiting attack work despite some long shots from the second. But when the locals equalized again, a few visiting offensive rebounds were their matching baskets and two triples, one from Bassas and the other from Miquel Salvó, once again fattened the yellow mattress.
The home pressure did not let up and a hat-trick from Jones gave his side the lead and tested the visitor’s mental toughness. Shurna missed and the American point guard scored again. Albicy missed one of his free throws and Jones responded with another impossible field goal at the buzzer.
With four tries, Slaughter missing a free-kick and Bassas a triple, the game was nearly lost for Gran Canaria and Valencia opted for ‘basket average’ after losing six on the island. Jones scored his ninth consecutive point to tie. Slaughter lost the ball early on and although Valencia couldn’t complete their afternoon, they took the win and ended their two-game losing streak in the ACB and neutralized the peculiar ‘basket average’ .
– Data sheet:
82 – Valencia Basket (16 + 23 + 17 + 26): Jones (21), Radebaugh (7), Puerto (3), Claver (5), Alexander (-) -starting five- Harper (3), Prepelic ( 5), Pradilla (9), López-Arostegui (9), Evans (10), Dubljevic (5) and Rivero (5).
76 – Gran Canaria (22 + 18 + 19 + 17): Albicy (13), Benite (10), Brussino (5), Shurna (5), Diop (4) – five holders – Inglis (10), Balcerowski (12 ), Slaughter (11), Bassas (3) and Salve (3).
Referees: Hierrezuelo, Araña and Martínez Silla. Not deleted.
Incidents: Before the start of the clashes, a minute of silence was observed for the victims of the earthquake which devastated Turkey and Syria. The Valencian side went into the game wearing white luggage with red trim, an almost exact replica of the one they wore 25 years ago when they won the Copa del Rey in 1998.