By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
What a round of games for the 24th Day in the Spanish Championship. Five of the six first names in the standings were brought down by teams who are, theoretically, not as strong. Some of them suffered home defeats, and others were almost blown away on the road.
The only team that managed to play according to its quality, at least enough to get the desired result, was Barcelona (22-2). Even though the Catalans started the game still drunk on the champagne of the “El Clasico” victory for Euroleague, they snapped out in the third period beat Murcia. Coach Pascual’s players received only 29 points by their opponents after the halftime break and are now sitting alone in the first place of the standings.
With Bojan Dubljevic and Fernando San Emeterio sidelined, Valencia (21-3) made a season-low in offense in this season’s Liga Endesa, losing by the…. second last team in the standings. By forcing their opponents into this negative record, Estudiantes (6-18) got what is arguably its greatest victory in the season so far and can now hope to climb higher than the relegation zone.
Earlier, Tenerife (13-11) absolutely stunned Real Madrid (19-5) through a powerful offensive game that teared apart the reigning champions, especially in the second and third period. It was not only a victory of prestige, but one that perhaps rekindles the playoff dreams for the club from La Laguna.
What took place in Vitoria makes you wonder where was this Unicaja Malaga (12-12) hidden recently. And that is because the Andalusians didn’t only defeat Laboral Kutxa (18-6), but torched their opponents in every possible way. Disastrous percentages from behind the arc and Giannis Bourousis’ first game in the season without any points condemn the Basques, especially in the second half. Now Unicaja is now seventh in the standings and has the right to aim higher as long as it continues like that.
Guided by a vintage-quality performance of Bostjan Nachbar, Sevilla (9-15) brilliantly outmatched Gran Canaria (15-9) in any way imaginable, beating them with more comfort than what the final score suggests.
Liga Endesa 2015/2016 – Day 24
Sevilla (Bostjan Nachbar 23 p.) – Gran Canaria: 97 – 72
Bilbao (Dairis Bertans 18 p.) – San Sebastian: 80 – 71
Zaragoza (Thomas Bellas 16 p. 5 a.)- Obradoiro: 76 – 64
Barcelona (Justin Doellman 18 p.) – Murcia: 77 – 71
Valencia – Estudiantes (Nacho Martin 17 p. 8 r.): 62 – 68
Tenerife (Nicolas Richotti 19 p.) – Real Madrid: 93 – 84
Laboral Kutxa – Unicaja Malaga (Will Thomas 24 p. 7 r.): 56 – 83
Manresa – Andorra (Luka Bogdanovic 15 p. 4 a.): 61 – 74
Fuenlabrada – Joventut Badalona (Brandon Paul 22 p.): 80 – 81