Valencia assaults the Palau and leaves Barça in evidence

The Barça crashed unexpectedly in front of a Valencia circumstances at the Palau (79-87), when he seemed to have in his hands a new record of victories at the start of the season in the ACB League, which he had managed to equal last week (the nine victories of Barça de Aíto 1988-89 ). The record and the unbeaten record disappeared before the frustration of the fans, who have returned to the Barcelona court with enthusiasm, and the triumph of the team of Joan Peñarroya, punished for five weight losses, left very bad feelings around the Barça team and also around some of their signings this season, such as Sanli (5 points, 2 rebounds) and Hayes (0 points in 25 minutes) that did not quite give the step forward that is expected.

“We lacked professionalism & rdquor ;, said the technician in a very critical tone Jasikevicius to the Movistar + microphones. But then he tried to lower his words, although he put all the emphasis on the mental subject and not on technical matters. “I guess I haven’t mentally prepared my team,” he said. “Overconfidence? Can be. I’m not going to look for basketball topics, but mental topics & rdquor ;.

Be that as it may, the Barça found an alarming lack of resources on the one hand to equalize the fight in the area, in which the couple won without discussion Dubljevic-Rivero, able to dominate the rebound, generate spaces and always add for his team and, on the other, to match the intensity of his rival. In this particular game, the Barça bench was in evidence. Smits, Hayes and Martínez they were left without scoring. Sanli y Jokubaitis they had a testimonial role in attack. So all the weight turned around Mirotic (22 points), Davies (12), always in a particular fight, and Calathes (12 points, 7 assists), although without the clairvoyance of other encounters.

Overcome casualties

Valencia showed character and an exceptional level, which does not correspond to the dramatic situation that it experiences at the nursing level, with the absences of Dimitrijevic, Claver, Tobey, Hermansson and Labeyrie. Peñarroya did not hesitate to give the young people many minutes to cover such important losses and they responded, as they are doing all season, in an outstanding way, especially Puerto and Pradilla. Although the headache for Barça came from the hand of Jasiel Rivero, of the recovered Xabi López-Arostegui, and of Dubljevic, who appeared providential in the second half in which he scored his 15 points, after going unnoticed in the first.

With an excellent defense work, the Valencia Collapsed the area and limited the damage of the League leader, and thus not only was he able to withstand the passing of the Catalans, but also dominated the scoreboard for many minutes, controlled the pace of the game and was able to react in the only moment in the one that Barça was in a position to break the game (54-47, m.25) just after chaining two triples of Calathes y Sanli.

On an offensive level, Barça lacked fluidity (the credit went to the Valencian defense) and also did not feel comfortable at any time in a game that became very physical, with many contacts, and Rivero and Dubljevic imposing its intensity, making evident one of the weaknesses that the team presents, the consistency in physical matches, its laziness in the center position. It also fueled the frustration of the players of Jasikevicius, which ended up accelerated, while Valencia felt clearly the winner in the final stage, after a 2-13 run that confirmed the bombshell of the day.

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