La Fonteta, key factor in the first round of the quarterfinals vs. Khimki Moscow Region

Valencia Basket opens their 7DAYS EuroCup quarterfinals series vs. Khimki Moscow Region (Tuesday 28, 20:45h, Fonteta, TV Mediterráneo / Eurosport2 / Teledeporte web) in a meeting in which the orange team will try to extend the Strength of a court where they hasn´t  lost for more than four months against one of the hardest rivals that remain in the competition. Coach Pedro Martinez has the full roster available except the French point guard Antoine Diot due to an injury in his left foot. In a game that has already become the true Classic of 7DAYS EuroCup (tomorrow will be the ninth European game between these two teams, so Khimki will become the most frequent rival of Valencia Basket in European competitions), orange squad is looking for a win that would not only allow him to defend the home-court advantage in this quarterfinals and add the first point of this series, but would also certify the best winning streak of Valencia Basket in this competition (until now, Valencia Basket won twelve games in a row).

 

Khimki Moscow Region reached the quarterfinals of the 7DAYS EuroCup as the second ranked of the group F, although they reach the Fonteta at their best moment of the season, after two merit wins at Unics Kazan and Lokomotiv Kuban’s courts and a streak that has led them to win nine of their last ten games. The Russian team brings in the current statistical MVP of the tournament, shooting guard Alexey Shved, who leads the EuroCup in points and ranking and is in an extraordinary moment of form in the month of February (27,6 ppg in his last five games). An increase in Shved's performance has coincided with the absence due to injury of French forward Bongou-Colo, who has missed the last four games of his team and will not be available for tomorrow's match either.

 

P. Martínez: “A tremendously complicated play-off, they are a great team”

Valencia Basket coach Pedro Martínez said in the previous press conference that this first game is “vital. If you start with 0-1, you are forced to play a final with everything against. It is complicated, Khimki is a great rival, and it is what has this format, makes you to cross with a team like that in quarterfinals. We're going to do our best. Shved is one of the best shooting guards in Europe, very difficult to defend. We must minimize his percentage, lower his contribution, but also have other players like Rowland, Pullen, Monia ... They are a great team, but we are good too, we have to face it with good spirit. There is no second or third game, we have to give our maximum tomorrow "

 

Rosters

VALENCIA BASKET

Nº

Name

Born

Position

Height

0

Will Thomas

USA/Georgia

PF

2.03

9

Sam Van Rossom

Belgium

PG

1.88

10

Romain Sato

CAF

SF

1.94

14

Bojan Dubljevic

Montenegro

C

2.05

16

Guillem Vives

Spain

PG

1.92

17

Rafa Martínez

Spain

SG

1.90

18

Pierre Oriola

Spain

PF

2.06

19

Fernando San Emeterio

Spain

SF

1.99

30

Joan Sastre

Spain

SG

2.00

43

Luke Sikma

USA

PF

2.03

55

Viacheslav Kravtsov

Ukraine

C

2.13

 

Injured

 

 

 

8

Antoine Diot

France

PG/SG

1.93

 

Pedro Martínez

 

Coach

 

 

KHIMKI MOSCOW REGION

Nº

Name

Born

Position

Height

0

Jacob Pullen

USA/Georgia

PG

1.85

1

Alexey Shved

Russia

SG

1.95

2

Markel Brown

USA

SG

1.91

6

Robbie Hummel

USA

PF

2.06

7

Ruslan Pateev

Russia

C

2.12

8

Viacheslav Zaitsev

Russia

PG

1.90

9

Egor Vialtsev

Russia

SG

1.93

10

Dmitry Sokolov

Russia

C

2.14

11

Stanislav Ilnitskiy

Russia

SF

2.02

12

Sergey Monia

Russia

PF

2.02

13

Valery Likhodey

Russia

SF

2.04

19

Marko Todorovic

Montenegro

C

2.10

22

E.J. Rowland

USA

PG

1.88

 

Injured

 

 

 

16

Nobel Boungou-Colo

France

SF

2.03

21

Jeremy Evans

USA

C

2.06

 

Dusko Ivanovic

 

Coach

 

 

REFEREES: JOVCIC (Serbia), VYKLICKY (Czech Republic) and GELLER (Belgium)