There were very few upsets in Liga Endesa this week, but we still had some great and exciting action to watch.
Game of the week was played in Baskonia, as Laboral Kutxa hosted the visitors from Valencia. The away side was coming of a huge win against Barcelona last week, but this week they failed, losing 94-88.
Davis Bertans was out in this one so Mike James picked up the scoring with 24 points in 26 minutes. It was a close game throughout as the key moment happened with 2 minutes left in the fourth when James hit a triple to put his team up 4. Valencia had to play the free throw game because of that, but failed to have a successful comeback.
Nemanja Nedović led Valencia with 22.
Barcelona had no problem with relegation zone destined Sevilla as they won comfortably 99-83. Sevilla offered some resistance in the first half behind good play of Kirk Penney and talented NBA draft prospect Kristaps Porzingis. The game was basically decided when Juan Carlos Navarro had a layup to put his team up with 7 minutes left in the fourth, as the lead only grew after that.
Justin Doellman was very efficient with 17 points in only 15 minutes of action. Porzingis had 18 for the visitors who now find themselves in the relegation zone with only 7 wins. Fuenlabrada only has worse record in the league.
Unicaja managed to stay at the top of the league with an easy win over Murcia 80-56. Murcia was coming off a huge upset win over Real Madrid last week, but they couldn’t repeat their performance this time around. The story of the game was Unicaja’s defense, as they limited Murcia to only 38% shooting from the field resulting in only 56 points in the game.
Mindaugas Kuzminskas led Unicaja with 17, and Raul Neto was the only one in double figures for the visitors with 13.
Gran Canaria was looking for an important win in their game against Joventut to keep track in their playoff chase. Canarians managed to just edge out the visitors in a thriller 79-77.
Hosts were up 3 when Joventut had their last chance to tie the game with 20 seconds left, but veteran Sergi Vidal was the one with a vital turnover that decided the game in the end.
Tavares led Gran Canaria with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Albert Ventura led the losing side with 17.
Elsewhere around the league, Real crushed Estudiantes 92-66, keeping chase with Unicaja for the top spot in the playoffs. Bilbao defeated Gipuzkoa with exactly the same result. Zaragoza couldn’t get important road win against Rio Natura as they lost 77-69. MoraBanc Andorra edged out the last placed Fuenlabrada 91-85 and Manresa is keeping their winning ways as of late as they defeated Tenerife at home 75-73.