Spanish ACB: top six shuffles as Valencia goes first

Spanish ACB

There was plenty of movement at the top of the Spanish ACB league, with a new club assuming first position in the standings. Through Round 28 of the Regular Season, Valencia (19-6) defeated Manresa to move top, while Real Madrid (19-7) moved to second place with a win over Baskonia Vitoria. Tenerife (19-8) lost out as the previous ACB league leaders slipped to third on the back of a loss at Andorra.

Barcelona (18-8) jumped to fourth with a victory over Zaragoza, while Baskonia (18-8) and Gran Canaria (18-9) dropped to fifth and sixth respectively. There are only six game left in the Regular Season, but that’s plenty of time for any of the top six to race to the top ahead of the Play-Offs.

Real Madrid and Baskonia Vitoria met in the Spanish capital in the most important game of the week. Fourth ranked real Madrid moved to second on the back of a narrow 86-82 win, while Baskonia drops to fifth on the loss. The two EuroLeague clubs traded the lead for periods, but the hosts built the win on 75.9 percent shooting from the charity strip.

The Spanish ACB league has a new leader after Valencia Basket tore apart Manresa 73-94 on the road. Valencia bounced back in style from losing the EuroCup finals series to Unicaja Malaga last week. An all-action performance from the visitors saw them outrebounds Manresa 20-39 and dish out 23 assists compared to 13. Significantly, Valencia turned over the ball from the hosts 12 times, a total Manresa could not match by half.

Editor’s Note: If you want more information about the Spanish ACB Liga Endesa, or other international leagues, you can check out Court Side’s Game Center.

The uncertain form of Barcelona was eased this weekend thanks to a 91-88 home win over Zaragoza. However, this was still not a vintage Barca, but if was enough to get fourth place in the standings at the close of Round 28. This game was close to the end, but the hosts were helped by Cypriot-Bulgarian Alexander Vezenkov, who paced the win with 21 points.

Gran Canaria Las Palmas slipped on the road at Joventut, with the hosts claiming a good 86-72 victory. This loss snapped an impressive eight-game winning streak that the island club has been on in recent weeks. The hosts controlled long periods of the game and the fourteenth-ranked Joventut team turned in one of its best performances of the season.

First ranked Iberostar Tenerife was handed a shock defeat at the hands of Andorra and lost it position at the top of the ACB. Andorra claimed an 85-82 win and looked excellent from the free throw line, making 26 of 31 for an 83.9 percent accuracy. The winners were certainly helped by Gran Canaria as the visitors offered up 27 personal fouls through the game.

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