The Olímpic fell silent after sweating Chinese ink for 40 minutes, a cruel farewell to Joventut, who extends the host's curse for another year with his defeat. The green and black team did not negotiate well in the last 20 seconds of the duel and let what would have been a historic victory slip out the window after 15 years without appearing in a final where Tenerife will debut against Unicaja.
Basketball was cruel with La Penya and, above all, with Joel Parra, who with 26 points left his soul in vain. An exhibition that marred Abromaitis with a contest stopper on the horn. Seconds before, Andrés Feliz had missed a free throw and then a somewhat hasty triple that allowed Cook to run to score the last points of the night in a final that, yes, feeds the legend of a precious tournament like the Cup.
The Penya began with a festival of triples, with two almost consecutive ones from Guy that equalized the score after Tenerife's small initial arreón. From very early on, a Parra was seen erected as a leader and symbol of everything that Joventut and Badalona mean, deeply involved in the duel and with his wrist as tuned as in the quarterfinals against Baskonia, even without intuiting the slap that the team would give him. destination. It was the youth squad player who signed the first differences for La Penya (17-11, m.7), who would finish the first act with a brilliant 5/7 in shots from three.
There was a party atmosphere at the Olímpic, which paid tribute to Albert Oliver after 22 seasons in the elite, and Duran's team joined in with a few minutes of absolute madness, chaining one triple after another until 36-23 (m.12) who climbed a vine in a trance. But such was then the state of euphoria that was generated in Badalona that Joventut believed they had won the game prematurely, always a big mistake, but even more so against a team as competitive as Vidorreta's Tenerife. The canaries took advantage of the local slut to endorse a resounding 1-16 run with which they even took control of the scoreboard (37-39). There the green-and-black team opened its eyes again, recovered the pause and was able to go into the break at least with a slim advantage and aware that the second part would be very long.
And so much so that it was because equality was no longer separated from the scoreboard until the end, tremendous suffering for all. A cruel finish paid for by a basket canceled by Guy because Tomic touched the ring with 1m30s to go that would have given his team more peace of mind. It was not like that and Tenerife hunted down the victory in a heroic way, with a pass from Fittipaldo to Cook to score the last basket of the duel.
72 - Joventut Badalona (27 17 15 13): Vives (3), Guy (10), Parra (26), Brodziansky (3), Tomic (5) -starting five-, Busquets (0), Ribas (9), Ellenson (7), Ventura (0), Feliz (9) and Birgander (0).
73 - Lenovo Tenerife (23 17 17 16): Huertas (15), Jaime Fernandez (13), Cook (2), Doornekamp (9), Shermadini (12) - starting five - Rodriguez (0), Fitipaldo (5) , Salin (13), Diagné (0), Abromaitis (4) and War (0).
Referees: Daniel Hierrezuelo, Emilio Pérez Pizarro, Benjamín Jiménez and Alfonso Olivares. Doornekamp was eliminated due to five personal fouls (min.40).
Incidents: Second semifinal of the Copa del Rey played at the Palau Municipal d'Esports in Badalona before 11,834 spectators. After the first quarter, a tribute was paid to former player Albert Oliver.
