By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
In what ended being a duel of two points guards, a poor play by Devin Booker sealed the deal in Valencia‘s home win over Khimki Moscow Region. It was the third straight win of Valencia in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
The final score was 89-84 as Jordan Loyd made two free throws, and Bojan Dubljevic scored two more points after a foul and a “T” on Booker, who was ejected with 48 seconds left on the clock. No one scored after that.
Booker had a double-double with 14 points and ten rebounds, but it was not enough. Just before his foul, Stefan Jovic had cut the lead of Valencia to one (85-84).
In total, the Serb guard had a stellar night with 19 points and 11 assists, but he was matched by Valencia’s Quino Colom, who also had a double-double with 12 points and 11 assists, giving a crucial 85-81 to his team with a big three.
Khimki started the game with a 20-4 run in the first five minutes, but the hosts reacted and managed to close the first half leading by three (51-48). Mike Tobey come off the bench and scored 14 points, while the second unit of Valencia picked up the slack in the defensive end, keeping Alexey Shved to 11 points on 3/9 shots. He didn’t score any points in the second half.
“We started the game bad, but after that, we showed our energy and how we play at home,” explained Dubljevic.
The game remained close in the third period, which ended with Valencia being up by two (72-70) and with five minutes left Khimki trailed by one (80-79), setting the stage for the thrilling finale.
Dubljevic, with 18 points and seven rebounds, was once more the leader of Valencia, Tobey finished the night with 15 points, and Vanja Marinkovic had 13 as Valencia has now a solid 4-6 record. Jonas Jerebko scored 14 points for the losing side, which lost ground but still has a solid 6-4 record.
“We started the season with a very difficult calendar.”
According to Valencia’s coach Jaume Ponsarnau, there’s a simple explanation for the turnaround of his team, which initially had a 0-5 record: “We started the season with a very difficult calendar, starting the competition against the best teams in the EuroLeague. Still, Khimki is one of the best teams in the EuroLeague. We are improving and took a step forward, being able to compete against great teams like Khimki. We have a lot of players now to compete in the Spanish League and the EuroLeague. We have energy, which is very important for us, and spirit, so I am very happy.”
On the other side, rebounds are the main reason for concern for coach Rimas Kurtinaitis: “The rebounds, losing that battle for the second game in a row. We got 13 rebounds less than Real Madrid and 10 rebounds less than Valencia. This is, I think, our main problem.”
Photo credit: EuroLeague