With three days of the regular LEB Oro league to play, Movistar Estudiantes and Covirán Granada continue without fail and maintain their pulse for direct promotion to the highest category. Immediately after in the table, ICG Força Lleida and Bàsquet Girona do not say goodbye to the fight, although the road to return to the men’s basketball elite may be a little longer. Win they do not lack.
Marc Gasol’s men (in fourth position) precisely certified their mathematical classification for the quarterfinals of the LEB Oro Playoffs this past Sunday in Fontajau against Força Lleida. The latter (the third in the table), is also guaranteed his participation in this phase of the competition.
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At the end of the regular season, the two Catalan clubs will start with home court advantage in their respective quarter-final matches. The matches in this phase will begin on the 26th and will face the best of five matches against the eight teams classified between second and ninth places (matches that can be followed on LaLigaSportsTV).
The four winners of each of these four qualifiers will meet in the Final Four of the LEB ORO, where the second ticket to the highest category will be decided between June 18 and 19.
The trajectory of Força Lleida has helped the fans to recover their enthusiasm for basketball
Bet on the quarry
Despite their youth, ICG Força Lleida and Bàsquet Girona share their status as heirs to two historic clubs that came to the top between 2001 and 2005. After the disappearance of their two most representative clubs and their respective refoundations, the two capitals Catalans vibrate again with two projects based on local talent, which they hope will become the backbone of their respective teams in the not too distant future.
“Lleida has recovered its enthusiasm for basketball after very difficult years. We are all very excited to be able to play and organize some Playoffs that we intend to be a party for Lleida sports, without any pressure and, at the same time, without limits. As our slogan says, in these Playoffs #LaFotremGrossa! (We’ll mess it up brown!, in its translation from Catalan)”, assures Albert Aliaga, president of Força Lleida.
Marc Gasol’s men certified their mathematical classification for the LEB Oro Playoffs last Sunday, May 1, precisely, against Força Lleida
The project of the Catalan team began to be forged in 2012 and goes hand in hand with the other club in the city (CB Lleida, from the Women’s League 2) following an integrating model involved in the territory, which has already been able to attract more than 300 boys and girls in its 30 base teams.
A philosophy and structure very similar to those proposed by Marc Gasol in 2014 for his Escola de Bàsquet, which has ended up laying the foundations of the current Bàsquet Girona.
The Força Lleida project began to be forged in 2012 and integrates more than 300 boys and girls in its 30 base teams
Both clubs bear witness to decades of work in historical entities such as the Club Sícoris from Lleida, and in schools such as the Maristes, predecessor of the extinct Club Esportiu Lleida Basquetbol, where illustrious names such as the internationals Jaume Comas, Roger Grimau, Alberto Angulo have paraded. or Johnny Rodgers.
In Girona, for its part, the Sant Josep parish center was the one that served as the seed for a CB Girona, which even won a FIBA EuroCup and which, under different names (Valvi, Casademont, Akasvayu), played for 18 seasons in the highest category, serving as a springboard for a very young Marc Gasol, and bringing together players of the stature of Raül López, Jordi Trias, Darryl Middleton or Dusko Ivanovic, among many others.
Marc Gasol shines again at Bàsquet Girona, the same team that was his springboard to the elite of this sport
Marc Gasol and Michael Carrera, two MVPs in two choral projects
Living history of Catalan basketball, Girona and Lleida are now reissuing an old classic that could be repeated in the Final Four of the LEB Oro and that, in the individual field, would face two of the most valued players in the competition: Marc Gasol and Venezuelan forward Michael Carrera, who has become one of the great sensations of the season (17 points and almost 8 rebounds on average).
On the one hand, and after missing the last derby in Fontajau due to suspension, the international ‘vinotinto’ will return in this decisive stretch of the season to take charge of the team led by Gerard Encontr, which also has the American shooting guard Mark Hughes and with two young talents on loan from FC Barcelona (Italian-Argentine point guard Juani Marcos and Senegalese giant Ibou Badji) as players to watch.
Two young talents on loan from FC Barcelona, Juani Marcos and Ibou Badji, are together with Michael Carrera and Mark Hughes some of the stars of Força Lleida
On the other, a Marc Gasol who needs no introduction, and who will be escorted by seasoned players in the highest category such as Albert Sàbat, Txemi Urtasun and Josep Franch; by an Eric Vila who recovers sensations after his serious injury; and by the Argentine shooting guard and runner-up in the world with the albiceleste, Max Fjellerup.
LaLigaSportsTV, much more than football
For the second consecutive year, the highest FEB category will be seen through LaLigaSportsTV, the Internet television platform (OTT) that LaLiga launched in 2019.
In addition to the summaries of the LaLiga Santander and LaLiga SmartBank matches, in this multiplatform system you can enjoy a wide catalog of free broadcasts of more than twenty disciplines.
In the payment mode, the LaLiga OTT offers its subscribers, and for only 2.99 euros per month or 19.99 euros per year, the best sports competitions such as the ASOBAL Handball League, the First Division of futsal or the Asian AFC Champions League, with Andrés Iniesta and Santi Cazorla as LaLiga’s main ambassadors.
An à la carte service with which LaLiga brings the user an infinity of competitions to enjoy the best sport.
