Valencia Basket returned to the Basque Country with another face. Without the vertigo of the Roig Arena, without the nerves that almost cost them the tie last Wednesday. At the Bilbao Arena there was no drama or need to be epic in the last quarter. Pedro Martínez presented a team plugged in from the first second and Surne Bilbao, who had stood up with dignity in the first game, could do little against a version of Valencia much more similar to the one that has dominated the Endesa League throughout the season.
The start already made the differences. Where on Wednesday the taronja They came out sleepily and granted a rent that they were about to pay very dearly and forcefully. Sako, Taylor and Badio built an initial 2-13 run that put Bilbao on the ropes before the match took shape. The men in black reacted with some success from the triple and closed to 16-22 at the end of the first quarter, but the feeling was clear: this was not going to be like the first game.
The second quarter was an exchange of blows in which Bilbao failed to match the visiting intensity. Every triple that Krampelj, Lazarevic or Jaworski scored had an immediate response from the Valencian side. Badio, Taylor, Moore and De Larrea took turns to maintain the advantage and the break came with a 37-47 score that reflected seamless dominance.
The sentence came in the third quarter, which was directly a recital. Taylor began to score triples as if he were in training, Reuvers and De Larrea joined in, and Sako provided muscle under the rim in the moments when the outside game closed. In less than three minutes the lead shot up to seventeen, and before the period ended it was already over twenty. The 49-71 with which the third quarter closed left the game and the tie in a dead letter.
The last quarter was pure formality. Martínez managed minutes with the semifinals already in mind and Bilbao, lacking the strength for a comeback of that magnitude, limited themselves to making up the score with some triples in the final minutes. The final 71-88 was a faithful reflection of what happened on the court.
Taylor, with 15 points, and Reuvers, with 14, were the highlights of a team victory in which up to nine players scored. Valencia now awaits the winner of the match between Baskonia and Joventut in the semifinals, which will be settled this Friday. The Roig Arena will once again be the scene of playoff next Wednesday.
