Barça begins this Monday at 9:00 p.m. at the Palau the quarterfinals of the Endesa League against the ‘taronja’ team
Recovering the league title is a priority for the Catalans after the disappointment suffered in the Euroleague
No more wailing and siren songs that keep the professional sections of Barça in the offing, which will especially affect the most ‘expensive’, basketball. One week after the painful KO against Madrid in the Euroleague semifinals and while the news about the cuts that Joan Laporta and his Board will impose, the reality is that the azulgranas are the best placed in the assault on the title in the Endesa League.
That is what Sarunas Jasikevicius and his players should focus on. All the work done to be first in a remarkable regular phase translates into the track advantage at all junctions and this Monday the work begins to take advantage of it and that it does not happen like in the last final against Madrid, who won the second game at the Palau and later sentenced at the WiZink.
focused
The feeling within the squad and the coaching staff is that the team is fully qualified to recover the scepter after the last two excellent months that had their bad moment precisely when errors in the image and likeness of what happened against Unicaja in the Copa del Rey were not allowed.
In fact, Barça already showed signs of that rage and that competitive capacity last Wednesday against UCAM Murcia (86-57) in a victory that by the way allowed a Valencia Basket full of doubts to qualify that fell on their court against the Breogan (77-80).
Nikola Mirotic is eager to return to leadership after his black night in Kaunas and trusts to be the beacon of a team in which the heavyweights must answer. And we are talking about Satoransky, an Abrines at a great moment, Laprovittola and Vesely, another who did not respond in the Final Four.
Abrines is one of the fittest players on the team
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In the first place, these quarterfinals and in general these play-offs represent a revalidation that could be definitive for a squad in which Everything points to the fact that Kyle Kuric (liked in Madrid), Mike Tobey and Sertaç Sanli will not continue and in which there are many doubts with the injured Cory Higgins, who has been out since he underwent surgery for his lower back problems before the Final Four.
“Now we must rise to win the League, which is super important& rdquor ;, stressed the general manager Joan Carles Navarro after the KO in Kaunas. The legendary ex-Barcelona guard already expressed himself in a similar way when he lost the last league final and the males must also be tied so that everyone rows towards a league title that would avoid closing the course with a pyrrhic Lliga Catalana, a quarterfinal elimination in the Copa del Rey and another in the semifinals of the Euroleague
a wounded rival
In the year prior to the announced inauguration of its spectacular new fief that will finally be called Roig Arena, Valencia Basket has taken a step back this season. Led by Àlex Mumbrú, the ‘taronja’ team was left out of the Euroleague play-offs despite fighting until the last month, was eighth in the regular phase and fell in the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey ( by a point against Madrid, yes).
‘Dubi’ is the soul of Valencia Basket
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In this sense, the signing in the middle of the course from compulsive scorer Shannon Evans (MVP of last season with Betis) has not finished settling and the physical problems of important players have been key. Call yourselves Bojan Dubljevic, Jasiel Rivero, Martin Hermannsson or ex-Barcelona Víctor Claver. Despite this, the ‘taronges’ have a great mix of veterans and youth represented by Josep Puerto and Jaime Pradilla.