Unexpected shipwreck in Fuenlabrada (90-73)

The first maneuvers of Fuenlabrada were led by Jorgensenas incisive as it is inspired. Quite the opposite of the accredited green and white scorers, blinded by the rim. Other incandescent, unstoppable days, at the Fernando Martín there were many shots that touched the front part of the metal. How Betis became obsessed with perimeter shooting and Fuenlabrada diversified the ways of scoring, it was a matter of little time for the hosts to take advantage and, after Zurbriggen’s goal, a gap of seven points was opened (19-12). Anticipation of what would come. Tunde made his debut and Cvetkovic, who reappeared, his downtime was noticeable and Gonzalo barely gave him four minutes in the first half.

It wasn’t worth a ‘bomb’ from the Serbian on the horn that settled a very erratic first quarter by Betis Baloncesto, with its scorers obtuse, unfocused, and without alternative plans then. Zurbriggenfrom the corner, expanded to ten (22-12), like Matulionis. All the triples that Fuenlabrada made were missed by Betis Baloncesto. A failure machine. The broad outline of the events did not allow for debate. Compared to 50% in the outside shot of the Madrid team (5/10), 2/12 of the Verdiblancos. It was time to resist, endure the storm without diluting or sinking morally. Because Betis knows how to swim in those waters without drowning. Fuenlabrada went from three to three (33-19), without brakes, in a trance from the perimeter, where their opponent’s defense was invisible.

When Munnings nailed Fuenlabrada’s eighth triple, an 8-0 run (36-19), Gonzalo stopped him. His team, then, only had flaws. He was inferior in almost everything, also in dynamism and intensity, but above all in shooting effectiveness. And the fact that the game was speeding up and getting out of control didn’t suit him particularly well either. Water was entering the hull from all sides. It was flooding. Fuenlabrada was devouring him and Betis, collapsed, felt at times very overcome. Nwogbo put the difference at 20 (41-21) and the correction was already very severe. The Madrid team, very aggressive, defended with very high lines and in attack they were able to overcome full-court pressure in three passes and crushing the Betic basket. Hughes took his team on his back in the minutes before half-time and Atencia, with a ‘bomb’ that was worth it, made it 47-31 at halftime.

Wasted overexertion

It was a denatured Betis, without dictation in attack (just four assists) and spongy in defense. He needed a radical improvement in all parameters, especially on his board, to rejoin the game. He protected himself with a zone (2-1-2 and 2-3), a resource that has given him wonderful dividends in other gameswhile in attack he opted to play harder and more vertical. A 2-5 (49-36) was enough for Toni Ten called time out. Betis was still far away, but the score did not matter to them then, but rather to turn the dynamics of the match by drying up their opponent. Renfroe attacked from the triple and the point guard was punished with a technical with the game boiling and Nzosa doing things, of high quality, that were not even remotely seen during his time in Seville, that seen and not seen since he spent the entire season injured (57-42). The local scoring flow was not the same, but Betis Baloncesto needed more points to truly threaten their armored and inspired rival. While the work was piling up for the main referee, Paula Lerma, although she surely took it for granted. It was predicted that the physical and contact level would skyrocket.

Cvetkovic made his debut from the triple and Ruben Lopez de la Torre reduced to nine (62-53). Betis made money from 4.60 taking advantage of their continuous visits (20 at the end of the third quarter), Tunde put up a stratospheric block, then the Sierra Leonean took it and the albiverde team, in short, did the impossible to equalize the match only in the game, which he had already achieved, but also on the scoreboard. Another technique fell to Betis and after a bad green and white attack, BeniteFuenlabrada put the 14 and added water to the wine of the reaction. All that effort, capital, to reduce the bruise in just two points (71-57). From -16 to -14.

Resistance is Renfroe

Renfroe resisted and so did Radoncic (71-62), but each visiting volley found a response. And the game (75-62) did not escape that loop, a carousel of personal fouls (40 in total), increasingly stuck and abrupt. The refereeing concert did not stop and cut the rhythm. In the absence of Benite’s points, Renfroe embodied the green and white resistance (77-67, at 5.10). Once again the team was compacted in an area, but Jorgensen dynamited it with a triple and that 80-68 did a lot of damage. After a clash between Benite and Bilbao, resolved with a double technical foul, Munnings sentenced a match that got out of hand for Betis due to a terrible first half that was impossible to correct in the second. Kasibabu paid for his desperation with the support of the basket in a two plus one from Nzosa (86-73) when Betis strived to minimize damage thinking about the individual duel. The green-and-whites couldn’t save even that, as they took a serious beating against a direct rival for promotion as an ugly finale of the first round.