Rytas arrived from Vilnius playing with house money, having reached the Basketball Champions League final four for the first time ever. La Laguna Tenerife were more than familiar with both the stage and the venue in Badalona. The freedom from pressure felt decisive, writes Emmet Ryan, as even the heroics of Marcelinho Huertas weren’t enough to save Tenerife.
Basketball is a simple game. If you get to do what you want more often than the other team, you’ll probably win. Rytas entered their Basketball Champions League semi final with La Laguna Tenerife as underdogs. Yet they dictated the terms of engagement for the bulk of this encounter.
There were individual heroics, most notably for Marcelinho Huertas, but it was the ability to get more from second and third options proved decisive here. This was a cerebral one to kick off the festivities in Badalona.
Huertas vs Everybody
The first quarter saw Rytas deploy an obvious and smart strategy. The Lithuanian club was just plain ageist. That meant lots of movement in the offensive half court and physicality on the other end. While that meant the foul count racked up fast, it played into their strengths.
Speedy Smith in particular benefited from the work of his youthful colleagues. Yet for all the pressure to force second chance opportunities, they couldn’t slow down the oldest man on the floor. Marcelinho Huertas came to play.
Huertas scored 8 points in the opening quarter, while also recording 1 rebound and 1 block. He didn’t need to be creator in chief against this style of Rytas D. So he picked his spots and made the energy-sapping approach of the Lithuanian club hit a clear ceiling.
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Tempo control
Rytas changed things up in a good way to start the second quarter. They forced the game to take up more of the floor, with broken play the norm. This allowed Martynas Paliukenas and Jerrick Harding, amongst others to take full advantage.
It was all too familiar of the prior year, even if it was a different opponent, for Tenerife. In a one-off situation, it’s possible to wear down these old legs. Outside of Marcelinho Huertas, who continued to deliver, there wasn’t anyone getting it done offensively.
When Giorgi Shermadini made a put-back with just under 4 minutes left in the second, it felt like a necessary one. The Islanders just weren’t looking where they needed to be. Aaron Doornekamp and Tim Abromaitis picking up their third fouls only compounded the problems. With Rokas Giedraitis picking up a bad injury late in the half, it was getting ugly. In truth, Huertas was the reason this was still a contest at the half.
Rytas fans travelled in big numbers from Vilnius to watch their team reach the title game of the Basketball Champions League. Photo: BCL
Shrugging off the beast
It took long enough but Marcelinho Huertas finally started to get some help out there come the middle of the third quarter. Fran Guerra, Joan Sastra, and Patty Mills began to bounce back from woeful opening halves for Tenerife as the Islanders slowed the pace down enormously.
Yet Rytas found a way to keep ahead. The Lithuanians grabbed more offensive rebounds in the third quarter than they had in the entire first half. Tenerife briefly had it back to a possession between them before the Vilnius club stretched it out again.
Rytas took Tenerife’s best shot and shook it off. The fourth quarter felt controlled as the Vilnius club simply took care of business. In their first ever trip to the big dance, the Vilnius club had earned a title shot. A sea of red is sure to sweep Badalona on Saturday.
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