Baskonia receives a thrown Maccabi in distress
BARCELONA, 4 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Bitci Baskonia receives Maccabi from Tel Aviv this Friday at the Fernando Buesa Arena (20.30) on matchday 8 of the Regular Phase of the Euroleague, in a key duel for some Baskonistas in distress who want to come back and who receive a Maccabi in full winning streak.
Difficult match the one faced by Dusko Ivanovic’s players against a Maccabi that has four consecutive victories and, the last, against a Barça that arrived in Tel Aviv undefeated and was scalded (85-68) from ‘La Mano de Elías’.
The Baskonians add more defeats than victories so far in this Euroleague (3-4) and they know that they may be facing a hinge match. Winning would secure them close to the ‘playoffs’ area but, on the other hand, a defeat would take something away from the goal that the Vitoria team always sets itself.
Bitci Baskonia comes from suffering a new hard defeat on their visit to Zenit Saint Petersburg (83-54), in a match that ran out of history from the second quarter and left the Vitoria players very hurt by not having had competitive capacity for the second match in Russia, given that they had previously lost on the Unics Kazan court. In addition, they closed the week badly with a clear defeat also at the Buesa Arena against Real Madrid (65-83).
The positive part is that newcomer Lamar Peters, an American point guard, could make his debut this Friday to contribute game and points from the perimeter. He comes from the Turkish Bursaspor, where he went up to 18.7 points, 7.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game, with a 60% accuracy in triples, in the three Eurocup games he played.
On the contrary, Sander Raieste remains doubtful and Alec Peters definitive loss. The rest, the available players, will try to end the series of two consecutive victories that the Hebrews have in the Buesa Arena. Regaining strength at home will be vital for a Baskonia that wants to start having regularity, even if it is at the cost of breaking historical rivals who arrive thrown.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
BITCI BASKONIA: Granger, Baldwin IV, Fontecchio, Costello and Nnoko -possible starting five-; Lamar Peters, Sedekerskis, Marinkovic, Enoch, Kurucs, Raieste.
MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV: Wilbekin, Evans, Taylor, Williams y Zizic –posible quinteto inicial–; Caloiaro, Reynolds, Sorkin, Dibartolomeo, Nunnally, Lessort, Ziv.
–ÁRBITROS: Pukl, Latisevs, Vilius.
– PAVILION: Buesa Arena.