In the race for salvation in which Betis Basketball is involved, each game is a new opportunity to distance yourself from the danger zone. It doesn’t matter if the opponent is a direct rival or a big team. The victory is worth the same if it is achieved in the Pazo de Lugo after two extensions than in a San Pablo, which will register a good entry, against a Baskonia (17:00) launched in the Endesa League and will arrive in Seville after a double day in the Euroleague in which they beat Real Madrid at the Wizink Center and lost to Monaco at the Buesa this Friday.
The potential of the Vitoria team is enormous. It almost always is, but this campaign has found in Joan Peñarroya to the ideal coach, despite the cupbearer skid against the host Joventut. Unexpected, but no impossible surprise. A stellar performance from a center, Tomic, and the work of a great forward, Joel Parra, as well as a third quarter to frame (33-15) gave La Penya the victory in that match. With Gerun and Pasecniks he now has the inside position well covered Luis Casimiro, but with him three The Verdiblanco coach has a serious problem.
He one-eyed guy who looked at him in the summer keeps eyeing him from time to time and now BJ Johnson fell, in an act of duty against Breogán on the last day. The Betic coach said in the preview that the North American will be a “long-lasting” loss. In this sense, it is necessary to put his words in context, since it is about a very important player who will be out of the team for at least a month when there are two and a half months of competition left. The club, for the moment, is not considering signing, despite the fact that there is still money in the box from the Evans operation. Seeing themselves out of relegation, even if only with a victory advantage over Manresa, seems to give them room to wait. Perhaps if the rope tightens more it may be too late.
In any case, Casimiro, as he has done since the summer, looks ahead with what he has. And what it has, after the necessary (and belated) remodeling, it can give it, if the defense works and in attack it is successful from the triple, to compete against a Baskonia that in the ACB is going like a shot: it has won 12 of the last 13 games. One cannot focus on trying to stop the Baskonia perimeter, the best team in the league from beyond 6.75 meters –both in percentage of success, with a 42.1% effectiveness, and in triples made per game, with 12.3–, because inside it also has players with scoring capacity such as Kotsar, Enoch, Men or Costellothese last two with a good hand from the triple.
Baskonia is the best team in the ACB since the triple with a 42.1% success rate, compared to 32.3% from Verdiblanco
And if those names scare you, the outer game is to make you tremble: Marcus Howardthe fashionable man who was key in the local victory in overtime in the first round (107-103), Darius Thompsonthe third assistant of the championship, Marinkovic, Giedraitis y Sedekerskis.
On the field, the defensive level shown by the Verdiblanco team will be key. He needs freshness in the legs to reach the help and intensity to prevent Baskonia from playing at ease and finding comfortable and free shots that will become, in most cases, easy points. On the other side, Betis needs that Gray begin to contribute in the scoring facet, although if he distributes the game well his entries to baskets can generate superiority to look for a shooter or bend the ball so that Pasecniks o Gerun, second rebounder in the Endesa League, sink the ball. With the Latvian and the step forward taken by the Ukrainian, the Verdiblanco team has gained an internal presence, which allows shooters like Bertans or Montero can shoot with more space and time.
The Dominican was one of the highlights in Lugo, but at times he continues to make the wrong shot choices. He is 19 years old and it is normal that he still has to polish those aspects. Of the rest, we only have to hope that they continue at the level that they have been showing. The arrival of Tyson Perez has been decisive in the Betic awakening, as well as the appearance of the good version of pozaswho after the departure of Evans again resembles the differential player he was at Obradoiro.
Con Eulis Báez already recovered from his injurythe power forward position is well covered and Maronka will go to three to supply BJ Johnson. Another young man who, like Montero, comes to serve in Seville to go to his clubs later. If the service is good, everyone is satisfied.
Definitely, Betis Basketball needs the highest level of each and every one to reach the final with options against Baskonia and there, with the support of his own, hit the table in pursuit of a salvation for which there is still a lot to sweat, win or lose.
