It was the last dance for Juan Ignacio Sánchez, the great Pepe, one of the legendary bases of the Golden Generation of Argentine basketball. It was a one night stand no one will forget because at 44, almost nine after his last game as a professional, He put on the shorts and the muscular one of his club, Bahía Basket, the one he manages without leaving out any detail. And he had the great pleasure of returning, at least for a little while. Is that after the spectacular roster with 12 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, he was not tempted by a talent and a physique that remain intact and decided that 91-87 on Gymnastics and Fencing La Plata, for the Argentine League, now it was their last match.
“Yesterday I was on the beach sunbathing and today I am here, on the court, playing a game. I don’t even know what happened. We were short of boys and When I returned to my house and I told my wife and my baby, they told me: ‘You play’. And I had promised him that he would watch me play, “Pepe released after his magical night at the Dow Center in Bahía Blanca, in dialogue with” Corazón Azul y Blanco, “a half supporter who follows the team from the Buenos Aires capital everywhere.
And he continued: “So this game served to fulfill the promise to him (to his son) and incidentally, I had a great time and I hope that those who came and our rivals had a good time. A pleasure to play against the boys of Gymnastics. They did it exceptionally, anyone could have won but in the end we did. Being on a court again and after nine years, the truth that I had not imagined”.
Clear. After having spent about 30 minutes on the parquet and after showing the best of his repertoire -to such an extent that several of his assists and a triple against the cicada went viral on social networks-, the doubt and the desire to that Sánchez would like to repeat. But Pepe did not go round and round and was forceful: “There is no other function, it is the only function”.
In case there was any doubt, Juan Gutiérrez, Sánchez’s former partner in the Golden Generation and current head of basketball for the Bahian club, posted on his Twitter account the message “Get to the office and find this …” accompanied by the image of the number 4 shirt that Pepe wore on Sunday night, accompanied by a small handwritten sign with a nice “This has been all friends!”
He was 28m57 on the court and finished with 12 points (4-11 from the field and 6-7 from free) with 8 assists, 8 rebounds (6 defensive and 2 offensive) and two recoveries. Only the five stray balls gave any indication of their inactivity. He was the third scorer for his team behind Catani and Captain Aranda and, obviously, the top assist. Impressive last function for the first Argentine who played in the NBA and who now leads the integral project of Bahia that aims mainly at the development and containment of young talents of national basketball.
.
