BAXI Manresa wants to continue looking up against a 'top' team
Gran Canaria, 4th classified, visits a Nou Congost this Saturday at 8:45 p.m. that will be full. Manresa wants to achieve their 14th victory. Juampi Vaulet is still recovering from his injury.
After winning the Catalan derby on the Joventut court thanks to a triple winner from Marcis Steinbergs, BAXI Manresa returns to play at the Nou Congost to play the matchday 25 of the Liga Endesa against another rival complicated, Gran Canaria. The match will be played Saturday starting at 8:45 p.m. (M+ Deportes 2 and Ràdio Manresa).
BAXI Manresa wants to continue looking as high as possible. To be able to do so we will have to compete and try to beat Gran Canaria. The Nou Congost factor will be once again on this 25th match day: the court is expected to be packed to capacity again. Regarding the physical condition of the squad, Juampi Vaulet is the only player who is not yet 100% fit. Although he is no longer injured, he still does not have a competitive rhythm and we cannot count on his normal contribution.
Gran Canaria is completing a great season in the Liga Endesa , in which it is fourth with 16 wins and 8 losses. Jaka Lakovic's team is irregular away from home, with worthy victories in Vitoria and Valencia and resounding defeats in Girona or Palencia. Ten days ago the islanders suffered a hard blow when they lost at home to Turkish Besiktas in the round of 16 of the Eurocup, but then they recovered with a beating at Casademont Zaragoza, also at home. The two most notable players for the Canaries are Ethan Happ and Nico Brussino, who are accompanied by men like AJ Slaughter, Ben Lammers, John Shurna and Andrew Albicy.
In the press conference prior to the match, Pedro Martínez said that «Gran Canaria was seeded in the Cup, it is one of the top 4 classified; They also have a lot of tactical wealth, they score in various ways, near the basket or shooting from 3, they have rhythm and are aggressive in defense; It is one of the 3 most difficult games we have left; They have very different forwards: Slaughter, Brussino, Miquel Salvó... or very generating bases and pivots who do everything, it is a great team and coaches and players are doing it very well».