Defeat in a tough game against FC Barcelona (62-66)

Valencia Basket fell by 62–66 against FC Barcelona in front of the 13,500 fans who backed them at the Roig Arena despite the public holiday. It was a game in which they held on despite having to play against their preferred style throughout, and in which they managed to stay ahead until the final minute, but ultimately lost in a late coin-flip finish that their opponent handled better.

The taronja side stayed level early on thanks to Montero’s offensive inspiration, but the Catalan team found their shooting touch from three-point range and abruptly stalled Valencia’s offense, producing a 0–13 run between the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. Struggling to find their rhythm, Valencia Basket gradually grew through increased defensive intensity, grinding back point by point to trail by just two at halftime, helped by Puerto’s three-pointers.

The home side found some fluency at the start of the second half to regain the lead, but FC Barcelona relied on the individual talent of their stars to keep the game swinging on a knife-edge heading into the final quarter. Valencia Basket tightened up defensively at the start of the last period to build a small lead, but lacked the scoring accuracy to consolidate it. When FC Barcelona got back into the game offensively through Vesely, the contest came down to the final possessions. Turnovers by the home team and Clyburn’s accuracy tipped the balance in favor of the visitors.

Post-game quotes: Pedro Martínez

“It's always a combination of factors that explains a defeat. To answer your question, I have to talk about two things. One is the last minute of the game—the final minute and forty seconds. We drew a foul when it seemed the game could be decided there, or even later when we recovered a ball on their baseline inbound, with Darius making the steal. At that point, the game was a coin flip and we didn’t handle it very well. They grabbed a key rebound when we were ahead and then hit a three-pointer. On offense, we lost a couple of balls against their switching defense at that moment. In the coin flip today, it went against us.

As for the rest of the game, we were out of rhythm. They grabbed 17 offensive rebounds, and we had fewer assists than our opponent. We played too much five-on-five and weren’t able to play at the pace that suits us. We couldn’t play a high-quality game like we had been. But the team fought to give itself a chance to win in that coin-flip situation.”