Students and Girona will play the last place for promotion to the ACB. The game had to be a confrontation between the collective of the symbolic Estudiantes and the individual power of the most important surname in the history of Spanish basketball, but Marc Gasol injured his knee in the semifinal and his presence, in the absence of official confirmation, is doubtful . The pivot left the track in the third quarter with almost no support on his leg, helped by the doctors, although he returned on his own feet with an ice pack on his knee. The decisive match will be played this Sunday in Fontajau (Girona), at 6:45 p.m.
The two finalists got through their respective semi-finals with similar scripts. If Estudiantes beat a weak Palencia (89-62), Girona did the same against Lleida (77-68) who took advantage of the star’s injury to compete until the end.
The loss of Gasol clouded the ideas of a Girona that had the match practically decided at half-time (31-53). After the departure of the center of the game, Girona collapsed, although it managed to maintain the advantage and victory. Students, who reached the Final Four as the main candidate for promotion, now seem to have more of an advantage due to the emotional and technical wound that Gasol’s loss could leave their team. If he finally gets minutes in the decider, it’s possible he’ll play short. The Girona coach, Jordi Sargatal, acknowledged that the center’s situation “is being assessed to see what he can do and what he can’t.”
Promotion to the highest category of Spanish basketball would be the starting point for two parallel projects that the ACB seeks from different origins. If Estudiantes intends this season to be a small stain on its almost pristine history (until 2021 it was the only team that had played all the ACB leagues, along with Madrid and Joventut), Girona wants to consecrate itself since its refoundation in 2014. But with Marc Gasol everything is easier. The team was in decline before the arrival of the Catalan, founder and president of the entity, and his registration catapulted the team’s performance with his 23.5 PIR points in the regular league.
The Catalan center was almost more dominant against Lleida from intimidation than from scoring (11 points in 16 minutes). The level of the former NBA player is much higher than the category also in a key game like in the semifinals. At 35 years old, he commands, scolds, encourages and dominates the game like few others. After returning from the locker room, he continued cheering from his chair and on occasion got up to give instructions under the gaze of his brother Pau, sitting in the box.
The Gasol-Urtasun-Franch trio was unstoppable at the start for Lleida, who woke up in Fontajau (Girona) when the match had already been in play for many minutes. In the blink of an eye, Girona already had half a game in their pocket (4-22 with two minutes to go in the second quarter, made up until 11-26 at minute 10). Little was known about Carrera, the star of Lleida, until the second half: he charged himself with three fouls before minute 15 and went into the break without scoring any points at stake. Only a series of three consecutive three-pointers by Lleida in the second quarter seemed to level the match, but Girona responded with four consecutive three-pointers, two by Gasol, to dominate at halftime (31-53).
The loss of the pivot changed the pace of the match. Lleida upped the intensity and Girona had doubts without their leader (17-8 for Lleida in the third quarter), although they resisted the final push from Fjellerup (11 points).
The other semi-final was won by the strength of the experience of Estudiantes, who faced the illusion of Palencia for the first time. The collegiate team faced the promotion Final Four in a big way. Strong in defense and voracious in the offensive rebound in the semi-final against Palencia (89-62), Epi’s team dominated from start to finish, with center Larssen unbeatable in the area (seven rebounds at halftime); and Dee and Álex Urtasun (14 points each) tuned in the shot.
The Palentino team, the only team with Granada capable of winning the two games played against the schoolboys in the regular league, lost its recipe at the worst time. His main ingredient, the electric Ali, was disconnected from the Madrid defensive systems and his teammates contributed little (43% accuracy in the field goals of the entire team, made up at the end).
Nor is it that Estudiantes was particularly fine in attack. He sometimes abused triples (9/24 in total), but his errors had a solution: the offensive rebound. Epi’s men looked for the ball in each attack as if it were the last. And Palencia offered no resistance in this aspect (25 rebounds were obtained by the people of Madrid, half in attack, for Palencia’s 9 at halftime). At rest, the domain was collegiate (36-24).
The intermission felt better for Estudiantes, who broke the semifinal with a spectacular third quarter (33-19) that left the schoolboys 26 points up (69-43). That’s where the game ended. Epi rotated his quintet (only Durisic exceeded 25 minutes on the pitch) for the final against Gasol’s Girona, perhaps without Marc.
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