A fortress threatened by an uncomfortable guest

After each setback, the green-and-white battleship has taken flight immediately, without slacking off, and it is expected that this Sunday it will do so again regarding the visit to the San Pablo pavilion of the Real Valladolid Basketballwho is haunted by the dark cloud of crisis after the severe corrective suffered in Pisuerga during the week with San Pablo Burgos in the Castilian-Leonese derby (73-104). A defeat of those that pupate and open wounds that only heal before they become encysted, with a triumph that also serves as a dressing and pain reliever for the headache. The one who surely has his coach, Lolo Encinas.

Betis Baloncesto should focus not so much on that latest precedent as on the performance of the Pucelanos away from home. Because, far from Pisuerga, where they have lost everything to date, Valladolid changes its face. If it’s not another team, it seems like it. His four wins have been won at home. On the first day he won in Alicante and then he has combined three victories, in a still open series, against Grupo Alega Cantabria, Hestia Menorca and Odilo Cartagena.

Valladolid lacked the most important ingredients on the court against San Pablo Burgos. Which, after all, are the minimum requirements: attitude and fight. And now, after that wake-up call, he will try to get even with a Betis Basketball that has established itself on its field, where it has won everything and almost always with authority, as Tizona Burgos, Súper Agropal Palencia and San Pablo Burgos can attest. On their court, Betis Baloncesto is reliable. He competes better and feels stronger even in the most compromising situations, which there have been. For example, in his last appearance, against Alimerka Oviedo, when between injuries and sanctions the rotation was reduced to eight professional players.

In Santiago he already had nine, once the punishment of Radoncicbut the Bilbao coach left unused Domènech and the green and white team, in blue in Fontes do Sar, was once again very short of resources. And it could also be said that he was tired, lacking legs, without the energy that, for example, he had transmitted four days before against the Carbayones. Logically, the losses affect. If not in the short term, yes in the medium. It cannot be forgotten that the team is playing without Jelinekperimeter plunger, or Alex Suarezwhich also opens the field, helps in rebounding, in play without the ball and can be used in two positions. Pablo Marín, who arrived very recently in Santiago, is available to play this Sunday.

The sin of free throws

Betis lacked continuity in its basketball in Compostela lands, but so did its rival, because the match was not exactly one to score. It was more a treaty of survival than excellence. And yet, on a bad shooting day for key players, Betis could have won if they had sharpened their free kick aim a little more: Of 25 attempts, he missed eleven. The most important blemish on your statistics. Betis Baloncesto went from more to less in its performance curve, which started like a shot, stopped in the second quarter and reacted in the third with a furious outing of heels that put it ten ahead. On another day of greater lucidity in all areas, that advantage acquired at a key moment would not have escaped the green and white team, intermittent in Santiagoperhaps with the reserve alert on, almost never hitting the key to reduce a particularly powerful opponent in the five position.

That bad situation has already passed and now it’s time to put all the emphasis on the Real Valladolid. And rise together, united, as this Betis has always done, with so much self-demand and commitment to the cause. In its motley defense, in the 72 points it concedes on average, the sacrifice of a squad of players with brilliant resumes in the ACB is demonstrated, to whom the Hereda Group convinced with the mission of taking the club back to the top national category.

Kovacevic and Vucetic

Valladolid, as has already been said, is a disconcerting team that wins away what it loses at home. He scores little (72 points on average with 31% on three-pointers) and in defense he concedes nine more (81). It has in its ranks illustrious players of the category such as Sergio de la Fuente, Rozitis, Puidet or the former Verdiblanco Mike Torres. Their top scorer is the Slovenian Kovacevic, who should be tied short, without disdaining other possible sources of power such as Demers or Vucetic. You never know how a team can react after a setback like the one suffered by the Pucelanos on their field and in a derby, but just in case Betis must arrive on time, press from the start, close ranks in defense and impose the pace. party that interests you the most. In this they are fundamental Renfroe and Cvetkovicwho has lowered his tone in the last two games and who has been missed.