Valencia Basket-Real Madrid: Whites chasing win to clinch league title

This evening, Real Madrid will be fighting for their 38th Liga ACB title at La Fonteta. The Whites have a 2-0 lead in the final series after two victories at the Movistar Arena and are looking for the third and final point to clinch the title in a competition they have won the most times. Madrid will have three chances to do so. But it won't be easy. They face a Valencia Basket side who are determined to remain alive and who have proved to be a very dangerous opponent.

Chus Mateo's charges are in the ideal position. They made home advantage count to win the first two games and to go to Valencia to seal the final series, true to history: no team has ever come back from 2-0 down in the final. There have been 18 ties with this outcome, 11 of which have been settled in the third game. The last occasion was Real Madrid's 3-0 win over UCAM Murcia in last season's final. Valencia Basket will benefit from the support of its fans on a court where they have only lost three games this season.

The series has had two very different games so far and Madrid's virtue has been that they have been able to adapt to both. In the opener, defence was crucial, holding their opponents to 75 points, 20 less than their Regular Season average (89-75). And in the second, where the Valencians displayed all their offensive capacity and their impressive three-pointers (18), they managed to keep up their pace and reacted with a brilliant collective performance, in which 7 players were in double digits in scoring (102-96). However, if there is one crucial aspect for the Madridistas, it is the control of turnovers. There were only 9 between the two games, preventing easy baskets for Valencia Basket, experts in running the court at a blistering pace.

Madrid, an all-round team
Madrid are in top physical shape and this is largely due to the involvement of all their players. They have all contributed at some point in the game without relying on just one player in the attacking aspect of play. One example is Andrés Feliz. From the bench, the point guard has been decisive (16 points on average). Others like Abalde and Garuba have also proved indispensable. The Whites will have to minimise the contribution of Montero and Badio, as they did in the first and second games, and most importantly, they will have to hold down their secondary players. Jones, Pradilla or Sestina have not been achieving their regular season level. One other name to mention is the Madrid captain. Sergio Llull could make history and become the player with the most national titles (15), surpassing Rullán and Luyk (14) and also the most ACB titles (9), breaking the deadlock with Juan Carlos Navarro (8).