Cáceres lacked gasoline and skill to conquer Lleida

Cáceres, a World Heritage Site, completed a remarkable, strenuous and professional match at the start of the playoff for promotion to ACB. The green team, this Friday in white, short-circuited ICG Força Lleida, and only the lack of strength in the final three minutes, after a titanic effort, prevented a new crush from a team that defeating is an exercise in patience for the rival.

The major challenge of the debut in a boiler like Barris Nord and in the face of the great revelation of the season, as Roberto Blanco defined it in the previous one, was assumed by the Cáceres World Heritage Site with the same confidence as the duel against the champion . A week ago competitiveness and faith were worth a ticket to return to the playoffs. However, from start to finish, the contest entered a state of excitement and mixed emotions that occasionally smiled at both of them.

The local Carrera moves perfectly in the emotional ups and downs, a ‘three and a half’, second in the regular season in terms of valuation and who signed the first seven points for the Lleida team. Belemene, who overtook the group from Cáceres, did a thankless job of wearing down his dance partner, whom he ended up drying out in the long run. The first crisis came with a triple by Miguel González (14-7), to which Jorge Sanz also quickly reacted from the perimeter. The base, diminished by his ankle, pulled the same job and pride as his teammates. A 0-9 run when things seemed to relax allowed Cáceres to even take the lead with twenty seconds remaining (17-19), but an unusual defensive mistake when defending the last attack from Lleida caused Cleare to leave the first quarter in a zero match.

Not even the brief stint on the bench before returning to the field calmed the spirits of two teams plugged in even excessively. A technique to the Cáceres bench before the ball even began to roll made ICG Força Lleida sign four points in a row almost without putting the ball in play. What at the beginning was a quick exchange, although ill-advised, gave way to an eternal room, with hardly any hits, counterattacks or fantasy and with a constant rhythm of fouls that marred the show. The locals were in bonus with six minutes remaining, while the World Heritage Cáceres did the same only two later. Then, ICG Força Lleida was about to break the match (39-30, minute 16). Unprecedented until then, Lobo appeared to sign seven points in a row and show the way to Mateo Díaz. The forward, with a three-pointer with a minute to go, once again put the team ahead of a team worthy of writing the best survival manual. As in the first quarter, Carrera was successful in the last attack and equalized again. But his contest had become almost inconsequential and even negative for his team.

The annotation stagnated again after an intermission that little or nothing changed. The perfect plan for the wear work by the World Heritage Cáceres had to deal with the awakening of Badji, author of the first six points of the hosts, but had the sporadic collaboration of Dukan (with his only basket until then placed 54-55). Mateo Díaz, also physically diminished, put order in the final stages to command the game at the end of ten minutes with a tie for the third consecutive time (61-61).

The fate of the playoff began to settle in a ‘mini match’ ten minutes away, but with the mortgage of previous fouls. The starting disconnection penalized the Cáceres team, which allowed Marcos to shine to increase the lead (68-63). Carrera reappeared to increase his team’s lead to five, but also to force Mbala’s fourth foul. The Cameroonian continued on the track as well. The team never recovered the dynamics of the previous quarters and a triple from eight meters by Schreiner with 2:56 left (78-73) left an insurmountable panorama for the scoring capacity and the strength that the brave team had at that time. Robert White.