Valencia made 5 three-pointers in 5 minutes to open a big gap
Valencia’s third-quarter three-point barrage was enough to fend off Hamburg
Valencia Basket can be happy about getting another road victory to stay undefeated in the BKT EuroCup and in the end, a barrage of three-pointers in the third quarter was enough to get the win.
Valencia finished the third quarter on a 2-21 run en route to a 78-86 victory at Veolia Towers Hamburg and the game-changing moment came thanks to the Spanish side’s excellent long-range shooting in that third frame.
Valencia had been used to blowing out opponents all season but the lead was only 51-53 with 7 minutes left in the third quarter. That is when Coach Pedro Martinez's outside shooters took over.
Semi Ojeleye started with a three-pointer and was followed by a triple from Brancou Badio, two long balls from Josep Puerto and another three from Badio - all coming in a span of 4:14 minutes. And the 51-53 close game was then 53-74 after 30 minutes.
“We stuck to our basics. We ran, we went more aggressively to the rebounds and we scored more threes. That was the main reason. We played according to our identity,” said Puerto, who finished with 17 points - a new career high.
Hamburg had to know Valencia would eventually get hot from the outside. The Spanish side ranked first in index rating, scoring and assists and was third in three-point percentage at 38.8%. And Hamburg’s defense was the second-worst from beyond the perimeter, giving up 38.8% on three-pointers.
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Valencia actually shot just 33.3% for the game, but that surge felt like a mountain too steep to climb for the home side.
Hamburg tried to make things close in the fourth quarter as it made Valencia pay for not staying as sharp as it needed. But the deficit had been too large.
“When you win so many games, it’s easy to lose the focus. We lost the focus, especially in the fourth quarter, but we won so we are happy,” said Puerto.