Euroleague day 16
Like at home, nowhere. Baskonia practically demonstrates this every time they play in front of their fans. Everything that is left away from Vitoria, he tries to recover when he plays at the Buesa Arena, regardless of the rival in front of him. of Spanoulis, one of the highest scoring teams in the competition, with an average of 90 points per game. Today it has remained at 73. The defensive work of Paolo Galbiati’s team has bordered on perfection, leaving the Monegasques with poor shooting percentages (28.5% on two-pointers and 21% on three-pointers).
who, little by little and after overcoming his injury, begins to look like the player who shone at the start of the competition. The American finished with 17 points, seven rebounds and four assists for a rating of +27. Forrest was well supported by Luwawu-Cabarrot, who scored 19 points, some of which came at key moments. Marcus Howard, for his part, had moments of genius, with a series of three-pointers that lit up the Buesa Arena, but he ended up being sent off with five points with eight minutes left. At AS Monaco, only Mike James, who finished with 21 points, was saved from burning.
A year without winning away in the Euroleague
The victory against AS Monaco is an example of a survival exercise. Once again, Baskonia is going through an irregular season, with constant changes in the squad (Samanic and Diallo have left and Simons, Nowell, Radzevicius and Omoruyi have arrived). And, as a consequence, the team’s play suffers, so much so that it is capable of starring in prestigious victories such as the one achieved today against AS Mónaco or the one achieved in the ACB against Real Madrid at the Buesa Arena, with a comeback included, but failures worthy of mention such as the one against the worst team in the Euroleague such as Lyon-Villeurbanne. The French team has only won four games, one of them, precisely, against Baskonia. It was far from home, where Galbiati’s performance is leaving much to be desired as witnessed by that disastrous record of 0-7 in Europe (to which we must add a very poor 1-4 in ACB). But not only that. The set from Gasteiz It has been a year without winning away from home in the top international club competition.
You would have to look back in time to see the last victory in Europe away from Buesa. It was December 17, 2024, in Belgrade against Maccabi. Those then coached by Dusko Ivanovic won 85-95 with a stellar Marcus Howard with 28 points, helped in the scoring phase by Chima Moneke with another 17 points. This being the case and until the away performance improves, Galbiati’s men are trying to hold on to the Buesa Arena so as not to throw away a season that has already been played for three months.
Against Monaco they did it that way. They went up to 16 points up (54-38) at the beginning of the third quarter, a distance that was reduced in a flash, reaching two points (54-52) with three and a half minutes remaining in the same quarter, in a true reflection of what Baskonia’s season is going like. The crowd feared the worst, but the team finally achieved another prestigious victory under the protection of its fans. Now it will be time to do it away from Buesa and the entity of the rivals waiting around the corner away from home (Barcelona and Valencia in the Euroleague, Friday and Tuesday, with Unicaja in ACB in between, on Sunday) do not invite optimism either.
