An endless crop of shooters, Kyle Guy also came from Indiana, the official Joventut sniper who pierced the Buesa Arena in Vitoria this Saturday like no one had done before. Badalona dreams awake after a majestic start to the playoff, defeated by the rooster Baskonia de Peñarroya in the first match of the quarterfinals.
“Sometimes they call us soft,” Carles Duran confessed on television as soon as the match ended. It was not the case, withstood all the attacks of Baskonia, with Markus Howard trying to shade Guy. It was mission impossible. The black-green scorer signed 36 points, a club record in the playoffs. And the Penya wasn’t exactly founded last weekend… To pepper Baskonia in such a way, Guy included nine triples, also a historical mark for Joventut, and just one less than the absolute record of the ACB, in the hands of Chicho Sibyllius. Drazen Petrovic also stayed with 9, with whom Kyle Guy equaled, Not so bad.
Without the injured Pau Ribas, and with Harry Ellenson somewhat diminished by a stomach virus, it was Joel Parra who began by percussing Baskonia before handing over the baton to Guy. He designed the youth squad’s first advantages and it was the one from Indiana who finished widening with his three-pointer. The 16-32 run in the second quarter (minute 12) was the best of the afternoon at the Buesa Arena, where an infallible Brodziansky also shone.
La Penya knew how to handle the advantages, although Baskonia persisted until the end, with a last set led by Howard, playing with green and black inexperience. But Joventut stood up and took the first victory of these playoffs. And what a victory.
91 – Cazoo Baskonia: Howard (28), Thompson (12), Enoch (0), Costello (6) and Giedraitis (13) – starting quintet – Sedekerskis (14), Marinkovic (11), Diez (0), Kotsar (2), Men (5) and Kurucs (0).
99 – Joventut: Guy (36), Brodziansky (21), Vives (0), Parra (15), Tomic (6) – starting five -, Kraag, Rodriguez (0), Ellenson (6), Feliz (13) and Bigger (2).
Referees: Antonio Conde, Martin Caballero and Francisco Araña. The visitors Krag and Vives were eliminated due to personal fouls.
Incidents: first quarterfinal match of the Endesa League played at the Fernando Buesa Arena in Vitoria in front of 8,648 spectators.
