By Lefteris Moutis/ moutis@eurohoops.net
Caja Laboral is considered the traditional Βasque powerhouse in European basketball, but Bilbao is doing all it can in order to change that. In the semifinal of “Euskal Kopa” the team of Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris beat Caja 78-74 with Frenchman forward Adrien Moerman scoring 18 points.
It was a good game for the winners who are competing in Eurocup and had a 13 points lead after third quarter (62-49) and one more sign for concern for Euroleague bound Caja. The team from Vitoria, Spain, after losing Mirza Teletovic to the Brooklyn Nets and Pablo Prigioni to the New York Knicks has to found a new identity, with Argentinian former NBAer Andres Nocioni being the anchor.
Caja decided to keep on its roster naturalized Bosnian point guard Taylor Rochestie and he has some big shoes to fill up. That been said, Caja was missing three players due to injuries, two “bigs” (Macje Lampe, Milko Bjelica) and one more guard (Fabien Casseur) so things should change for the better when they return.