Transistor afternoon. Afternoon of passion. Afternoon of drama. The last day of the regular phase of the Endesa League had everything. He spread smiles and tears, defining the path to the title for the eight teams that will play in the playoffs, and also towards hell for Monbus Obradoiro, which was left with the last relegation place despite beating Joventut (97-71) , which thus lowers the curtain on a course that will be buried without pain or glory in the trunk of memories so that no one can rescue it.
Where miracles multiply, we must call them that given the club’s scarcity of resources, is in Manresa. Pedro Martínez’s team captured the last free place to compete in the playoffs for the title and no one will beat their hope. Another milestone for the Bages team, which could not win on the always complicated Lenovo Tenerife court (84-80), but took advantage of Baskonia’s defeat against Real Madrid (106-100) to ensure its presence among the best eight of the tournament. With the defeat, the Vitorian team certified one of the worst seasons in memory, for example being left out of the fight for the title for the first time in the history of the competition.
Baxi Manresa was in the game until the end, convinced of being able to qualify without having to wait for third results. In fact, he was able to force overtime on his last possession, but Brancou Badio ran into the robust arm of Abromaitis, signer of the winning block. The rival of Pedro Martínez’s team in the first round of the playoffs, the quarterfinals that are played in the best of three games, will be Unicaja, the best team of the course as the numbers dictate. After storming the Palau on Friday, the Malaga team confirmed first position with another display of power against Zunder Palencia (93-69), leaving Real Madrid in second place.
For its part, Barça recovered a small part of its smile and secured third place by barely beating a combative Surne Bilbao (68-72), who had nothing at stake, and will face Lenovo Tenerife in the playoffs.
Grimau’s team ended a regular season with too many defeats (11), but enters the final stretch with its aspirations intact and eager to get rid of the bad taste of its recent defeats, especially that of Olympiacos in the fifth game. Yesterday’s results also make it impossible to repeat a final between Barça and Real Madrid, as had happened in the last three seasons. Their crossing, if it occurs, would be in the semifinals.
In Miribilla, the Barça team was left without Willy Hernangómez at the last minute and their coach also gave Kalinic a rest. Oscar Da Silva took advantage of the duel to perfection, putting in one of his best performances as a Barça player to vindicate himself and loudly ask for more participation. The German climbed to 20 points, to which he added 6 rebounds. In another bad night in Barça’s outside shooting, with 6 of 26 in triples, it was precisely the German who set the maximum of the afternoon for his team with five points in a row (49-62) with eight minutes remaining, section in which Grimau’s team limited itself to managing the times and ensuring victory.
Regarding the drama of relegation, the tears that were experienced in Fontes do Sar after Obradoiro’s relegation contrasted with the party that was celebrated in Granada. Pablo Pin’s team beat Dreamland Gran Canaria (74-67) with a titanic final effort and confirmed their permanence in front of more than eight thousand enthusiastic fans.
