Moment of fragility and unity to receive the leader

Since the useless Spanish Cup match against Algeciras, let’s say that the air has changed for Betis Baloncesto. It blows against him. With Jelinek In the infirmary, in two hours of footage, four other pieces fell off Gonzalo García de Vitoria’s board: Rubén López, Renfroe, Pablo Marín and Kasibabu. The second, a 38-year-old veteran point guard, was stopped at half-time due to being overloaded after combining the high-voltage duel in Madrid with the cup-bearing procedure in 48 hours. A lot of whipping. More serious are the injuries of López de la Torre and Marín. The first suffers from foot flexor tenosynovitis with bone edema at the base of the fifth metatarsal and the second, a grade two ankle sprain. The first will remain in the dry dock for about three weeks and the second from three to six.

It is true that now there is a two-week break after this day and that they are rotation players, without whose participation in the games Betis has managed to win, but the team inevitably suffers because their absences, together with that of Jelinek, They will overload their teammates with minutes and they have greatly conditioned the work of the week. Training five against five has been impossible for this fractured Betis Baloncesto, which the Spanish Cup, which has been taken very seriously in an experimental format, has ended up hurting.

Long-awaited reunions

Chance and fortune, the absence of the latter rather, have led to the team arriving decimated in strength, with three fewer players and without support from the youth squad (Brazilian Mathias Vasquez cannot play as he is from outside the EU), one of the most anticipated games of the season in San Pablo. And not only because of the obvious status of direct rival of the Burgos team but also because of their meteoric trajectory (7-0 partial) and the presence of up to four former Verdiblancos in their ranks: Bruno Savignani, Wembi, Fischer (he is injured) and, above all, Pablo Almazánwho was a leader, head of the locker room, captain and soul of a club in which he did something very difficult in the history of this entity: stay six consecutive seasons. And always adding, contributing on the court and off it.

Have no doubt about the man from Granada, the fans will receive him with the ovation he deserves. That must be the strongest that is taxed, although they also deserve it Wembi (in a short time wearing the green and white shirt he left a pleasant memory); and Savignanicaptain of a ship that was capsizing due to economic problems and whom he knew how to maintain and guide through the waves, without becoming destabilized, until the play-off port, squeezing the resources and playing basketball really well.

Few, almost no one, gave a euro for the possibility of the Brazilian coach fitting into that project and not only did he do it but he squeezed it out, leaving it at the gates of the Final Four and waiting weeks for Betis until, while preparing the Olympic Games in the Brazilian team, San Pablo Burgos knocked on his door and asked for the termination of his second year in Seville. A proposal, the Burgos one, irrefutable given the lack of definition at the time of the green-and-white entity, whose shares were later transferred to the Hereda Group. A company that a few years ago was precisely the main sponsor of the Burgos club.

And that without forgetting that Renfroe, Benite and Kasibabu They once wore the San Pablo Burgos shirt, in the case of the first two achieving unthinkable heights in that club, winning European and intercontinental titles. The capricious paths often intersect in basketball and this match between two flagships of the category is seasoned by all these little stories that increase its interest and enhance its appeal. It has already been mentioned about Betis how it arrives. Splintered by injuries, short on strength, with the occasional player injured (Renfroe and Kasibabu) and forced to concentrate effort and minutes on a smaller group of players. Something that does not have to be detrimental to your interests. Until the ball starts flying the mystery will not be solved.

It sometimes happens in basketball that the greater the concentration of minutes on a few players, the greater the team’s performance. This is called making a virtue of necessity. And in the Betis Basketball It has worked many times. For example, last season, when Polanco and Joaquín Rodríguez accumulated, game after game, much more time on the court than their teammates. Of course, that was a studied plan, the corset that best fit that template, and on this occasion it will be obligatory. Because Gonzalo García really likes to move the quintet and against San Pablo Burgos he will hardly have that possibility.

Similar equipment

Unlike Betis, San Pablo Burgos did not play during the week, so that effort was saved. He arrives launched, with the loss box blank after winning all his games. And he has had all kinds of them, against rivals from the upper, middle and lower zones. In this order, they beat Grupo Alega Cantabria, Flexicar Fuenlabrada, Palencia, Monbús Obradoiro, Alimerka Oviedo, Zamora and Inveready Gipuzkoa, which they gave a good account of last day (90-68). On a statistical level in attack, they are two similar teams, with 84 points on average for those from Burgos and 80 for Betis. And the same thing happens in defense: 72 on average for the Castilians and 70 for the Verdiblancos. Betis is worse in two-point shots and free throws, but improves on Burgos in three-point percentage, rebounds and assists. They are two teams, in short, very even that want the same thing.

The key event is more important for the hosts, in any case, since in seven rounds San Pablo Burgos has taken two victories away and what will be experienced this Sunday will be a fight between direct rivals in which even the difference in the score will matter thinking about the second round. It will be a mathematical duel, but also chess, especially for Betis, which has lost several bishops and will have to carefully calibrate each movement on the board.

Visitors have the loss of Luke Fischerso between Stumbris, Goloman, Wembi and Dani Diez The minutes will be distributed in the inside game. The three-four from Madrid and international for Spain is, by the way, the most important player in statistical terms of the people from Burgos, who have in Lapornik their top scorer and a series of versatile, very dangerous handlers with points in their hands. In fact, the only pure point guard on that squad is Dídac Cuevas.

Like last week in Madrid against Movistar Estudiantes, this mountain pass that the hardworking Betis Baloncesto must climb before the break is first class. A game that who knows if it can mark until the future of the season. He will face it at a delicate moment due to the injury report he presents and that is why The club has asked for the support of the fans. Without their encouragement, without that extra energy in the pavilion, reaching the summit will be much more difficult.