Man also lives on triples. And Barca. Jasikevicius’s team did not want to be less than the rest of the Endesa League semifinalists and certified their fast-track qualification, thus making an appointment with Unicaja. He did it thanks to a record display in the three-pointer that ended with an already little initial resistance from Valencia Basket, which last night put a sad end to a season that was too irregular.
Barça’s statistical sheet left little room for doubt. 20 2-pointers and 31 3-pointers, 18 of which ended up finding the net, the last coming out of Tobey’s hands with less than two minutes to go. The success of Barcelona represents a new record in the history of the ACB playoffs. Satoransky, with four without a miss, and Abrines, with four others, topped the list for a night to go down in history.
Barça’s numbers were adorned by 26 assists, a figure that speaks highly of the ball management made by the Barça players. Despite abusing the outside shot, as Jasikevicius’ men did without much success in Kaunas against Real Madrid, this time they showed an intensity and patience when it came to generating commendable shots.
Barça dominated the game almost at will in a Fonteta more aware of the farewell of several players at the end of the game than anything else. The six triples in the first quarter already marked the first differences, which became a whole world for the Valencians. The final blow was delivered by the Catalans after the break, with another seven triples in the third act that marked the highest of the night (39-66, minute 28) curiously with a two-point basket from Kalinic. It was then that Valencia gave its only signs of life, with a 14-2 run that opened a small window of hope. A gap that Barça covered, of course, with a triple from Satoransky that ended the game and the series.
64.- Valencia Basket (13 13 19 19): Jones (4), Harper (12), Webb III (4), Pradilla (4), Dubljevic (8) -five starters- Claver (6), Puerto (5) , Radebaugh (2), Ferrando (0), Evans (7), Alexander (2) and Hermannsson (10).
87.- Barça (26 17 24 20): Laprovittola (11), Satoransky (14), Abrines (12), Mirotic (13), Vesely (4) – cinco titular – Sanli (2), MartÃnez (0), Kalinic (6), Tobey (5), Kuric (11), Jokubaitis (6) and Nnaji (3).
Referees: GarcÃa González, Jiménez and Olivares. No deleted.
Incidents: Second match of the Endesa League quarterfinals played in the Fuente de San Luis pavilion in front of some 7,100 spectators.
