GameLab G30: BAXI Manresa-Valencia Basket

BAXI Manresa wants to vindicate itself against a top team like Valencia Basket. Pedro Martínez's men, who have only won one of the last five games played at the Nou Congost, want to achieve a vital victory to maintain eighth position, which gives access to the Liga Endesa play-off. To do this, they will have to overcome a Valencia Basket that has not lost any ACB game since the arrival of Xavier Albert to the 'taronja' bench, adding three victories in three games. Those from La Fonteta are fourth in the competition with 19 wins and 11 losses and are a team made up of high-level players such as Brandon Davies, Chris Jones, Semi Ojeleye and Damien Inglis. The Manresans want to use the Congost factor in the last two home games to achieve the goal of qualifying for the play-off.

Who contributes the points to Valencia Basket?

Currently, Valencia Basket has an average of 83.6 points per game. The man with the highest scores on the 'taronja' team led by Xavier Albert is the American center Brandon Davies, who scores 14.5 points per game.

The other men who complete the Top 5 scorers of the Valencian team are Chris Jones (12.7 points), Semi Ojeleye (12.7 points), Jared Harper (8.8 points ) and Kassius Robertson (8.6 points).

The duel: Badio vs Jones

Brancou Badio and Chris Jones are leaders and vital players for their teams. The BAXI Manresa player is an important piece for Pedro Martínez and is having great games, maintaining a high scoring average of 14.3 points per game. For his part, the American point guard for Valencia Basket is the second highest scorer for the 'taronja' with 12.7 points per game.

Chris Jones is a player with a lot of game generation and this is reflected in his 3.9 assists per game, which places him as the Valencians' top scorer, and with a higher average than Brancou Badio, with 2.6 assists

One of the statistics where both players are strong, and are very equal, is in the percentage of effectiveness in the free throw: Brancou Badio 82.1% / Chris Jones 82.2%.

Finally, the two players are the second most valued man on their team. Brancou Badio values an average of 12.9 credits, and Chris Jones values 13.9.

The shooting %

The 3-point shot: BAXI Manresa 31.7% / Valencia Basket 37%

The 2-point shot: BAXI Manresa 52.3% / Valencia Basket 54.4%

The free throw: BAXI Manresa 75.9% / Valencia Basket 73.2%

Background

BAXI Manresa and Valencia Basket have faced each other a total of 30 times at the Nou Congost, where the Catalans have won on 14 occasions and the Valencians on 16.

In the last duel between Manresa and Valencia played at Bages, Pedro Martínez's men took the victory over the 'taronja' with a result of 87-82.

This same season, in the visit of the people from Manresa in La Fonteta on matchday 6, it was the Valencians who took the victory in a tight match that was resolved 84-79.

The Old-known

Pedro Martínez: He was the coach of Valencia Basket between 2015 and 2017 and won an ACB league title.

Pierre Oriola: He played for Valencia Basket in the 2016-17 season, and together with Pedro he was league champion.