La Fonteta decides the champion of the 7DAYS EuroCup

Valencia Basket counts on its side with the home-court advantage in the do-or-die EuroCup Finals game 3 that will decide whether the new champion of this competition is the taronja team or the ALBA Berlin (Monday 15, 20:30h, Fonteta, Teledeporte).

 

The men of Jaume Ponsarnau will try again to defend the taronja fortress (the taronja squad has won its 11 home games in the tournament), just as they did in the game 1 of these finals in which won by 89-75. After falling with overtime in Berlin and leaving the winning streak in fifteen victories in a row, a Valencia Basket that presents an impressive record of 19-3 so far in the tournament wants to achieve its most important triumph to secure the championship.

 

And to try to look for it the taronja squad maybe would add one more piece. Point-guard Guillem Vives, sidelined in the first two games of the Finals due to a torn muscle in his right thigh, began on Sunday to test himself with the rest of his teammates. If his feelings are positive, he will become one of the 14 players available for the coach Ponsarnau, who would thus have to make two technical discards.

 

In addition to his good streak in La Fonteta in European competition, Valencia Basket has on its side the past games both particular (has always beaten ALBA in La Fonteta) and generals (has never lost at home against a German team). Captain Rafa Martinez can tomorrow become the first player to win three EuroCup titles and further increase his taronja legend to be the first in the history of the entity that wins five trophies with Valencia Basket.

 

Jaume Ponsarnau (Valencia Basket coach)

"You always make adjustments after a win and of course, after a loss. We made some adjustments after Game 1 but so did ALBA and, as a consequence, a lot of things were balanced. We clearly dominated the rhythm in Game 1, but lost it at times during Game 2. That gave ALBA some positive momentum. Rebounding well is very important in this series because it allows you to dominate the rhythm. It is a critical issue which we clearly won in Game 1 but not in Game 2. We have to improve, not technically or tactically, but knowing we have to give 100% in every action. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half on Friday. We have to take those turnovers that are made in order to do positive things and avoid those that don't help us play well, like offensive fouls”

 

Rosters

VALENCIA BASKET

Nº

Name

Born

Position

Height

1

Sergi García

Spain

PG

1.93

6

Alberto Abalde

Spain

SF

2.02

7

Louis Labeyrie

France

PF

2.08

8

Antoine Diot

France

PG

1.93

9

Sam Van Rossom

Belgium

PG

1.88

10

Will Thomas

USA/Georgia

PF

2.03

13

Mike Tobey

USA

C

2.13

14

Bojan Dubljevic

Montenegro

C

2.05

17

Rafa Martínez

Spain

SG

1.90

19

Fernando San Emeterio

Spain

SF

1.99

21

Matt Thomas

USA

SG

1.96

30

Joan Sastre

Spain

SG

2.00

42

Aaron Doornekamp

Canadá

PF

2.01

Questionable

16

Guillem Vives

Spain

PG

1.92

Jaume Ponsarnau

Entrenador

 

ALBA BERLÍN

Nº

Name

Born

Position

Height

1

Joshiko Saibou

Germany

PG

1.88

3

Peyton Siva

USA

PG

1.82

5

Niels Giffey

Germany

SF

2.00

10

Tim Schneider

Germany

PF

2.08

15

Martin Hermannsson

Iceland

SG

1.90

22

Franz Wagner

Germany

SF

2.03

25

Kenneth Ogbe

Germany

SG

1,98

31

Rokas Giedraitis

Lithuania

SF

2.00

32

Johannes Thiemann

Germany

C

2.05

33

Dennis Clifford

USA

C

2.13

35

Landry Nnoko

Cameroon

C

2.08

43

Luke Sikma

USA

PF

2.03

 

Aíto García Reneses

 

Entrenador

 

 

REFEREES: ROCHA, MANTYLA, NEDOVIC