The Spanish side scored 90 points for just the second time this season
Gran Canaria offense woke up against Besiktas as playoffs near
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Regular Season
Round 17 of 18
Group A
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The old adage goes: offense wins games, defense wins championships. Well, Dreamland Gran Canaria will be happy that its offense woke up as the BKT EuroCup Playoffs are just around the corner.
Gran Canaria’s offense had been sputtering recently but jumped to life in the penultimate game of the regular season, with the 2023 EuroCup champs coming out with a 90-81 victory against Besiktas Fibabanka Istanbul.
“It was an important win for us, getting back to winning ways. It's a good feeling. The team played well and deserved this win,” said Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic, whose team had lost four of its last five games. “Offensively, we did a good job.”
With the win over Besiktas, Gran Canaria has locked up a top-three finish in Group A with an 11-6 record and still has one final game – at last-placed Trefl Sopot next week – as it hopes to finish second and secure a bye to the quarterfinals.
“We have one more game to go and still nothing is finished. The job is still not done,” Lakovic added.
Caleb Homesley led the way for Gran Canaria with 18 points. That came after he tallied 20 points last week.
“We had dropped a couple in a row. I thought our effort tonight was outstanding. We just wanted it a little bit more than them,” Homesley said.
Gran Canaria needed Homesley’s output after having scored more than 77 points just once in the last five EuroCup games. The win over Besiktas was just the second time Lakovic’s team reached the 90-point mark. The other time was Gran Canaria’s historic 125-78 win at home over ratiopharm Ulm back in Round 5.
Gran Canaria has been solid all season defensively, ranking third in opponent’s PIR (79.6), second in scoring (75.7 ppg) and first in assists allowed (15.7). But Lakovic’s team has not played to the same level offensively.
Gran Canaria ranked 17th in the competition in scoring at 78.9 points per game – a fact that makes it tough to get wins when the defense struggles a bit. The Spanish side had given up 81.4 points per game in its last five EuroCup contests.
“The difference in the game was our third quarter. We were very solid defensively. We made a lot of steals and that gave us confidence to run and score in transition,” Lakovic said.
Sure, the defense will be key as Gran Canaria looks to lift a second EuroCup title in three years, but being better on offense wouldn’t hurt the team’s chances, either.