One cannot live without faith, said Tolstoy. And if faith has the help of anarchy represented by a sniper like Kovacevic, all the better, who was able to put his equipment on his back, all or nothing, the way he likes it best, beyond the line of 6.75 meters and without thinking about whether it is good or the launch. Boom, boom, boom! and the team is resurrected when it was totally dead at the mercy of its rival.
UEMC Real Valladolid Baloncesto added or rather found itself, from that infinite faith in the aforementioned Kovacevic (5 triples) and in his Vucetic tower, decisive in the final stages especially with his last offensive rebound and the basket that gave the victory to three seconds left, with an unexpected victory in Menorca. Because Lolo Encinas’ team returned to its old ways to repeat mistakes and be portrayed against Menorca, a minor rival with disadvantages that reached 16 points (36-23) or 13 points (53-40) with only 6.14 to go.
An image of the Menorca-UEMC Real Valladolid Basketball played in Mahón.
The way the match was going, no one could have imagined a resurrection of Real Valladolid or a meltdown like the one in Menorca, whatever you want to call it. Well yes, the always restless Lolo Encinas, urging each defense from the wing, entrusted himself to his saviors in the attack under the purest law of anarchy.
Because Kovacevic appeared and Hoover also woke up to lead an incredible and at the same time incomprehensible (depending on which side you saw it from) a 4-18 partial to turn the score around (57-58) and play everything to a coin. That leap of faith from the bench, of not giving up despite being evident in many, too many facets of the game against a lesser rival (rebound blocking, defense of the direct block, alarming disconnection of the two ‘fours’ of the De team la Fuente and Egekeze, bad direction from the point guard…), it helped them at least this time to not be ‘made fun of’ by the rival.
His spectacular awakening after a time-out by Lolo Encinas with 6.14 remaining when the scoreboard showed a clear 53-40 for the islanders put fear in the body of a Menorca team that threw all its good work overboard in just three minutes. Because the heart of Real Valladolid, represented by the ‘want’ and why not ‘power’ this time of their youth player Juangar, with a triple that was also decisive in the final stretch as an improvised ‘four’ but ultimately focused and decisive, It was more than the bad head of a Menorca unable to close the game when it had everything in its favor, which also did not know how to play the last possession (65-67).
UEMC Real Valladolid, ‘in extremis’, as it is most enjoyed, avoided opening Pandera’s box with another defeat. And he did it with an acceptable first quarter (only in defense) and his reaction in the last when he was marked. He won even though he valued less than his rival. And it once again opened the question of players who appear and disappear like the aforementioned De la Fuente or Egekeze, have lost spark for some time now (Rozitis) or simply cannot find the key to what Lolo Encinas wants (Sans).
