By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
If it was a film, the director would be Stanley Kubrick. If it was a book, then Dostoyevsky would have written it. What took place in Vitoria between Laboral Kutxa and Real Madrid defined perfection. We are talking about a game which can be easily used as a trailer of epic length with the title “That’s what Euroleague is all about”. An ideal advertisement for all that is holy in blessed basketball and a celebration of everything we love in the sport.
Various changes in the lead achieved through masterful plays. Enormous shots from long range. Comebacks succeeding each other. Oscar-worthy highlights. Passion and strong will to win, delivered by both teams. This game had everything. And if things could not be any more spectacular than what we had already watched in the match, here came a fantastic, off-balance buzzer beating three-pointer by Davis Bertans to give Baskonia the victory 89 – 88, plus the sweet home-court advantage for the playoffs. An ideal finale for 40 minutes of basketball brilliance, the likes of which we rarely see.
Giannis Bourousis and Mike James had formed a fantastic duo that led Laboral Kutxa to a strong comeback before Bertans fired his winning basket. The Greek center scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while the Basques’ guard sang a hymn from behind the arc, and not only, with 6/6 three-pointers (5/5 in the third quarter) and 27 points in total. Through these two pylons of Baskonia’s offense, the hosts erased the double digit lead with which Real Madrid entered the second half, almost in a blink of an eye, setting the foundations for their team’s ultimate victory.
Pablo Laso’s players had previously made quite the dynamic entrance in the match. Appropriately prepared and focused on making their point from early on, since they needed the win much more than their opponents did, the Madridistas had their way in the first hal but could not silence these two… aforementioned “machine guns” of Laboral Kutxa. Still, even when they fell behind the score, 75 – 69, two minutes into the fourth quarter, they pulled some of their classic big jumpers, courtesy of Sergio Llull (14 points, 5 assists) and Sergio Rodriguez (18 points, 5 assists) from behind the arc, to not only come back in the game but regain possession of the lead, making it 83 – 87, 90 minutes before the final buzzer.
But Baskonia had the strength, determination… and Bourousis to return once more and then through Davis Bertans’ magic hands, grab the precious win at the buzzer.