A serious Valencia Basket, strong in defense and with clear offensive ideas, defeated Asisa Joventut 90-76 this Friday, bringing them to the brink of the ACB final. The Valencian team found the formula to neutralize their opponent's zone defense and adjust their own pick-and-roll defense.
The series now travels to Badalona, where Joventut will host the third game on Sunday and, if necessary, the fourth on Tuesday. A potential fifth game would return to the Roig Arena on Thursday the 18th.
Joventut started with a zone defense, but it wasn't effective this time. Neal Sako was key in finding openings in the green-and-black defense. Despite a timeout by Dani Miret, Álvaro Cárdenas extended the lead with two consecutive three-pointers (19-7).
Ricky Rubio attempted to lead Joventut's comeback, but the home defense, with Kam Taylor and Sergio De Larrea, contained his drives. Valencia punished with good percentages from beyond the arc and scoring from Larry and Jaime Pradilla (33-15).
Cameron Hunt emerged for Joventut with three-pointers and assists, and along with Jabari Parker, kept the game competitive until halftime (56-43).
In the second half, Valencia responded to the zone with a three-pointer from Taylor and an action from Sako. Just as Joventut seemed on the verge of collapsing, Ricky Rubio halted the decline. However, with Rubio on the bench, Valencia achieved a twenty-point lead (73-51) thanks to the distribution from their big men and Badio's accuracy.
More plays from the tireless Álvaro Cárdenas ended the Badalona team's resistance, as both teams began to think about the next game. The crowd at the Roig Arena enjoyed a comfortable end to the match.
In the technical sheet, for Valencia Basket, scorers were De Larrea (10), Badio (16), Montero (11), Pradilla (10), Sako (9), Taylor (10), Cárdenas (13), Moore (2), Key (5), Sima (2), and Costello (2). For Joventut, scorers were Rubio (9), Hunt (8), Hanga (8), Parker (16), Ruzic (4), Vives (5), Drell (4), Hakanson (5), Allen (2), Morin (9), Birgander (4), and Kraag (2).
The game was played at the Roig Arena in València before 13,730 spectators. Before the start, a minute of silence was observed in memory of Eduardo Portela, former president of the ACB.
