Valencia Basket aims to surprise Real Madrid in the Endesa League Final
The Valencia Basket faces Real Madrid this Friday in the first game of the Endesa League final. The Valencian team will seek to impose its pace of play to wear down its rival and obtain a crucial victory that gives it the home advantage.
Real Madrid, having finished the regular season in first place, will host the first two games of the series. These matches will be played at the Movistar Arena, where the Madrid team has maintained an undefeated streak of 14 months. La Fonteta, which will be the venue for the third game and, if necessary, the fourth, will mark Valencia Basket’s farewell to its current court, as it will move to the Roig Arena.
The Valencia Basket, coached by Pedro Martínez, comes to this match with more rest than Real Madrid, as they resolved their semifinal against La Laguna Tenerife quickly. On the other hand, Real Madrid needed four games to overcome Unicaja and advance to the final.
To achieve their goal, Valencia Basket will need an outstanding performance from their outside line, similar to that shown in the previous playoffs. In addition, it will be essential for the team to control the rebound and overcome their physical disadvantage under the hoop, which will allow them to implement their fast game, characterized by three-point shots.
In the two previous encounters this season, the victory has gone to the home team. In December, Valencia Basket prevailed in an exciting finish, with a partial of 14-5 in the last three minutes, sealing the victory with a three-pointer by Matt Costello (85-84).
In a recent encounter, six weeks ago, Real Madrid won on their court (96-89). Despite the close difference, the whites dominated the match, with a standout third quarter by Andrés Feliz.
For this match, Pedro Martínez will not have Ethan Happ, but he recovers Xabi López-Arostegui, who missed the last game due to a right calf injury. With the return of the Spanish international, the coach will have to make two cuts.
With last Saturday’s victory against Tenerife, the Catalan coach equaled Miki Vukovic with 143 victories as the coach who has won the most official matches with Valencia, so with the next victory he achieves, he will hold that honor alone.
