Like all the courts of LEB Or, on Wednesday in Oviedo, they were waiting in a flash for the visit of Bàsquet Girona to be able to see Marc Gasol live. The injury caused by the Sant Boi pivot prevented him from being there. However, watching the first minutes of the match, some confused Asturian fan thought that Gasol had traveled and was destroying Oviedo with an infallible success under the paint. No, Gasol was not there and who shone with his own light was James Sorolla. The Tortosa pivot, who averaged 6.2 points per game until Wednesday, scored a 10 out of 10 on two shots and one on free throws (100% accuracy), which made him a perfect matchrounded, of course, with the convincing final victory 46-80.
The first three attempts came in. First a basket from five meters, then one under the ring and then a hook. “I’m fine today,” Sorolla confessed, thinking. His wrist was hot. “It simply came to our notice then. I made a couple more hooks and in five minutes I was already 10 points. “They all come in,” he said. The defensive and offensive level of his teammates accompanied him and, although Sorolla slowed down a bit, in the end he finished the game with 21 points and 23 points. Sorolla had never signed such a sublime performance as a professional. “I do remember the United States in my formative stage getting to score 24 points or so in 15 minutes more than once,” he says. Despite being the main protagonist of the victory in Oviedo, Sorolla is left with the group performance of a Bàsquet Girona that already has three victories, without Gasol, and that is already thinking of getting the fourth tomorrow against Melilla in Fontajau (18 : 00h). “He had never seen a team like Oviedo with 46 points on his court. We were a real pineapple in defense. We all stole, pressed, ran. Even I defended his base “, he explains. That is why he makes a special emphasis on the group value of victory. “The victory was not so much for what I did offensively as for the defensive work of the whole team».
The pivot acknowledges that perhaps its best version had not yet been seen because it was debuting in the category. “It came from LEB Plata, where the pivots are taller and thinner. Now, it’s very different and there’s more contrast. You have to get used to it. ” Sorolla acknowledges that the position is very well covered with Gasol, Jawara and Delgado. In this sense, the Tortosa native details that Gasol’s training sessions are “a spectacle”. “Every day he scores 20 points and doesn’t give a damn. We try to slow him down and make him do less, but then he does 18 ». Sorolla confesses that he has learned, above all, “communication” from Gasol. “I finish the matches aphonic. The pivot is always the last player, like the goalkeeper in football and has to command. You have to talk a lot with your teammates to defend, pretend, help … », he says. The pivot reveals that his teammates say “Marc” to Gasol, although “Sevillano, who is more of a joker, occasionally calls him a prisoner.”
The three consecutive victories against Prat, Castellón and Oviedo have despaired a Bàsquet Girona that, with Gasol injured, seemed to collapse. “When he got injured we lost the benchmark, but we told him he couldn’t be and we had to win again. The turning point was the victory in El Prat, against a team that goes there a lot and whom we beat by character “, he underlines. “Of course!” he answers when asked if it’s time to make the playoffs. “We are just one victory away,” he says.
