The irreducible Betis Baloncesto can also beat the leader (90-89)

What ended happily began crookedly, with scribbles. As if it were a reissue of the match with Movistar Estudiantes, Real Betis Baloncesto started with its defenses low, this time with one gear less than its rival. In Madrid there were two or three. It is not that it was devastated by San Pablo Burgos, but it was clearly inferior from 11-12. Dani Díez did a lot of damage with his open shots, Goloman in the follow-ups and Gonzalo Corbalán, with his physical and indecipherable game, in the drives. With a rich assortment of offensive variants, the Burgos team showed its claws and fangs to a Betis that held on to the court thanks essentially to the percussion of Benite. Their defense was down, with an open day, without detracting from the surgical work of San Pablo.

Forced to row, Betis’s outlook had turned black after a poor first quarter (15-26). Only Dani Diez (15) averaged more than all of Betis (8), with just one rebound in his locker. Anemic from almost everything, the team increased its activity and intensity at the start of the second quarter with Cvetkovic, Hughes and Benite as the perimeter trident. He changed the batteries and put in the alkaline ones. Five points followed by Benitetriple and bombita, they drilled a 9-0 (22-26) in less than two minutes in one more example of the demonstration of self-love that helps the team escape many quagmires. Benite led the way (26-28) when the hoops rejected San Pablo Burgos’ three-pointers again and again. Hughes burst onto the scene with two slams of the door: triple and steal for a discharge, another one, from Benite (32-28), who also pressed behind. 17-2 partial.

Betis had gone from nothing to everything. From a flat basketball, without energy, to the emergence. DeBisschop pivoted, scored, blocked and crushed with two hands, and twice as well, taking over the paint (38-32). Remembrances of Paul Davis. The green and white roller was activated while the hull of the San Pablo Burgos was flooded with water. It entered him everywhere. Cvetkovic also turned on the radar to the basket (40-34) and Gonzalo García protected Kasibabu, already with three fouls two minutes before the break. A partial 1-7 restored equity again (41-41). With the two point guards on the court, Cvetkovic scanned the game, tempered and directed a Betis team that sent them to the break (47-43) after a superb second quarter (32-17). He had raised his field goal from 46% to 59% and lowered his rival’s from 61% to 44%. From the defense, which fed back to their attack, which was much more diverse and accurate, the hurricane and racial Betic reaction was explained, which had disrupted the visiting team. But there was one world left, the two most important quarters, when everything is decided in battles of this caliber.

Green and white acceleration

DeBisschop, Thor’s hammer, stirred up the hornet’s nest in the area (50-46) and had a tough time with Goloman while opening paths for Benite and Renfroe (56-50). The war veterans of Betis Baloncesto were already maturing the game. With head and legs. Radoncic was assisted by a brutal defense by Renfroe in the middle of the court with the ball stolen (57-50), but the game was already opening raw. San Pablo Burgos did not resign, quite the opposite. No Betic push dissuaded him. He then pressed the keys of Dani Díez and Gudmundsson. Corbalán, always present, scored a 0-8 (57-58) that punctuated Betis’s soufflé. Benite left a very classy basket in the Burgos spider web seconds before committing the fourth with fourteen minutes of footage left. How can we not remember then that Betis’ rotation was only nine names. At 59-59, Gonzalo García lost his technique. The offensive joys were over and Betis increased the defensive pressure. And on the front line. Of separate robberies of Hughes and Kasibabua new impulse. From the dark work, rebounding and free throws included, he got oil (68-60) when the contacts, fouls multiplied and the noise in the pavilion increased exponentially. Cvetovic nailed a stratospheric triple which Lapornik replied and Renfroe, one tenth away, scratched a shooting foul that sealed the score at 73-64.

Without completely dominating the rebound, Betis had already converted 70% of their two-point shots. In these short distances, with a rhythm interrupted by the refereeing concert, there is no doubt that the team feels comfortable. He had the game where he wanted, also controlling the rebound. Renfroe and Cvetkovic, zipi and zape, crushed San Pablo Burgos with two triples (78-64). Without Benite on the field, the Verdiblancos led thanks to superb defensive work. But it was not the last word from San Pablo Burgos, who once again grumbled through a 0-8 that dusted off the suspense.

Suddenly, the doubts returned to Betis Baloncesto. We had to continue cutting down the tree, because the San Pablo did not defeat. With exactly five minutes until the curtain goes down, 78-72 and CvetkovicBetic MVP, to the rescue dueling with Gudmundsson (81-75). Corbalán, burning, and Goloman adjusted more (85-82) until Lapornik He nailed a clean and frontal triple (87-87) that condemned the game to the dreaded heads or tails. From 78-64, partial 9-23. Betis, with the hook, or so it seemed. Benite eliminated Dani Díez but did not complete the free throw (89-87). The albiverde bench regretted it. Goloman equaled it at 31 seconds. The match was already an exercise in calculation and precision. More chess than basketball. Renfroe left a free kick and the referees gave the ball to the Burgos players when it was precisely a visiting player who was the last to touch it. There were twelve seconds left and Betis left their lives in a pluperfect defense that stifled the visiting attack until they forced a shot from no angle and thus began a victory with the flavor of those impossible causes that only the union of a group is capable of achieving.