Joventut received a dose of their own medicine at La Hamburguesa and after signing a historic beating in the first game of their Endesa League playoffs quarter-final series, they were beaten this Sunday by Lenovo Tenerife, leaving the pass to the semifinals in the hands of the third and final match on Tuesday.
As if they had decided to exchange shirts, Tenerife and Penya offered a match very similar to the first but with the roles changed. One of the strangest scenarios but one that now forces Badalona to recover their best game in order to be in the semi-finals.
Tenerife's recital began from the beginning with a resounding 26-11 already in the first quarter that indicated where the course of the duel was going to go. The Canarian public vibrated like never before and became just another player.
There was without a doubt a proper name in the Tenerife victory and it was none other than Kyle Wiltjer. The North American, born in Portland, went into a trance from the opening jump and gave one of the best performances in the League. He went into the break with 21 points already, including a fantastic 5/6 from three-point range, to finish with 37 at the end of the game. It was a real scandal.
And it is that the success of Vidorreta's team in the outside shot left Joventut unanswered, who tried to stand up in the second quarter thanks to Ferran Bassas and Andrés Feliz, but always ran into the triples of an extremely inspired Tenerife ( 14/26 at the end of the match).
The gale from Tenerife that took the Badalona team ahead had its first maximum expression in the third quarter, when Doornekamp raised the maximum score: 71-46 (minute 26). From then to the end, the game was an ordeal for Penya, who urgently needed to wipe the slate clean, since the injury reached 103-74 in the last minute.
In addition, the match got dirty in that final stretch, with Bassas getting a technical and Pep Busquets being disqualified for protesting an elbow by Shermadini. It is already known that against Tenerife there are never calm mornings.
Tenerife's victory had another side as the protagonist. It was that of Marcelinho Huertas, who surpassed Sergio Llull as the top assistant in the history of the ACB playoffs.
