The Nou Congost ended up on their feet to fire their players. The season is over for them because they couldn’t force the third game in the quarterfinal playoff against Madrid, but their campaign has been sensational. They were close to the tiebreaker but a brutal run by Gabriel Deck (11 of his 14 points in the last quarter) gave the victory to the Whites, who are already in the semi-finals. The meeting marked the farewell of Rafa Martínez, who received a standing ovation at his 40th birthday. Manresa has played this year in the Copa del Rey and the playoffs, as well as reaching the Champions League final. A huge merit.
Because courage is a hallmark of Pedro Martínez’s basketball. His teams are aggressive in attack and daring in all concepts of the game. With that courage he has built an ultra-competitive Baxi Manresa. As far as his templates go. The woman from Manresa came out ready to tighten the screws on Real Madrid.
Sheltered by the Congost factor, delivered with his team, Manresa took Madrid on a first-name basis without any fear. That Laso’s team hit a jump with three-pointers by Yabusele and Sergio Llull (18-25) as they responded with a 16-4 run that made their flirtatious pavilion vibrate (34-29).
Bako was fighting for rebounds and was strong in scoring in the zone and Thomasson (16 points) and the incombustible Rafa Martínez spurred on from outside. The pace was devilish. Without respite, he went from one side of the field to the other. This is how Manresa wanted it. Madrid was interested in lowering the revolutions and other classics like Llull and Rudy Fernández put the game to cool down by putting Madrid ahead again with eight points per beard until the break (39-41).
Madrid returned to the parquet with clearer ideas than a Manresa that began to have difficulty finding the hoop. Yabusele (16 points) was splendid, Tavares intimidated again and again and Laso’s team threatened to give the game a definitive push and left nine. It was Manresa’s turn to endure the downpour and not give up. Martínez’s men minimized damage with a quarter to play (53-59).
Nothing was yet lost for those from Bages but time had passed into white hands, who are not exactly inexperienced. However, Manresa staged a fabulous final run, thanks to the physical level of Francisco and Moneke (12 and 11 points respectively). They left Madrid nailed for four minutes and turned the electronics around. The Catalan victory was very possible. And it would have arrived if it had not been for the emergence of Gabriel Deck, who unblocked Madrid and scored 11 consecutive points (72-76). A triple by Causeur sentenced the match. But the great season is not taken away from Manresa.
