Francisco Ariztegi recommends a forecast for the Endesa League.
We are going to the third and last chapter of the tie between Valencia and Baskonia within the Playoff game of the quarterfinals of the Endesa League. This match will be played in Valencia, in La Fonteta where everything will be decided, the one that won goes to the semifinals, the one that doesn't, to think about next year.
Baskonia took the first match, but did not know how to close in Vitoria-Gasteiz where it lost by 7 points, in what was a great moral stick for the whole and its fans who were already singing the classification after having imposed themselves by a single point in the first match of the qualifier.
For this match I think that Valencia is slightly favorite and that they will take the match based on their great defense, something that will be decisive in this match.
I see a point superior to Valencia and I think that Baskonia will lose and will get to work in the coming season to forget as soon as possible this season, the Basques have not done a good year and have work ahead to restructure the team.
On the Valencian side Peñarroya has been clear “in a match as close as this the defense will be key, I expect a hard game, even more than the previous two”. This statement of intentions is clear, the match will be decided physically and we will see little scoring.
I think the fans will tighten up, that Valencia arrives at a better time and that they will know how to impose the physical aspect on the court, so we will see a game of few points that the Valencians will take. Baskonia will come back stronger next year and will have a great year.