Real Madrid is no longer Barça's only executioner this season. Grimau's team suffered its fourth defeat of the season this Sunday, the second in the Endesa League, and this time it was Mumbrú's Valencia, in an extraordinary moment of form, that finished off the Barça team and surpassed them in the standings.
As already happened in the WiZink in the Euroleague, Barça's attack was very deficient in the Fonteta and once again greatly hampered their chances of victory. Once again they were unable to break the 70-point barrier, a background that makes it too difficult to add victories against teams of the stature of Valencia, as lucid in Spain as in Europe.
You cannot blame this Barça for lack of desire, as no matter how bad things go in a match, they persist until the end and, on many occasions, obtain a reward. This did not happen in Fonteta, where Valencia did not know how to tie the victory when they had their rival on the canvas and feared until the last second, when Abrines missed a triple that would have forced extra time, but came out victorious. The action that ended up deciding the duel had its share of controversy since with less than 5 seconds left and the score tied (68-68), the referees were very careful to call a foul on Willy Hernangómez's shot on Chris Jones, the best local player, practically in the center of the field. After reviewing the play on television, they stood firm and the phenomenal Texan player scored the three and ignited the celebration of the Taronja fans.
After a good first quarter, Barça began to show another bad afternoon in shooting in the second, a scenario that Valencia took advantage of perfectly to sign their first maximum difference (43-31) just before the break. The Blaugrana entered the locker room with just 33 points, of which 14 had come from free throws, showing a very poor 5/21 in shots from two.
Although he did not start sharply at the restart, when Inglis widened to 48-34, the figure of Willy Hernangómez began to cast a shadow on the Fonteta and close the gap. Special mention also goes to Kalinic, who had one of those all-round matches that a coach is so pleased with. Barça evened the score at 61 and then at 68 with a spectacular triple by Abrines from almost 9 meters, but the Mallorcan missed the mark a few seconds later and the victory remained on the banks of the Turia.
71.- Valencia Basket (18 27 13 13): Jones (17), Puerto (6), Ojeleye (2), Inglis (4), Davies (11) - starting five - López-Arostegui (4), Reuvers (7 ), Pradilla (4), Claver (2), Harper (10), Jovic (4) and Toure (-).
68.- Barcelona (19 14 16 19): Satorasnki (-), Abrines (9), Kalinic (15), Da Silva (3), Vesely (4) - starting five - Brizuela (3), Hernangómez (22), Parker (8), Nnaji (-), Jokubaitis (4) and Parra (-).
Referees: García González, Castillo and Olivares. No eliminated.
Incidents: match corresponding to the seventh day of the regular phase of the Endesa League played in the Fuente de San Luis pavilion in front of 7,972 spectators.
