Básquet Girona revealed yesterday the first details of the team’s debut in the ACB in the premiere with a friendly against Manresa. The feelings, despite an ultimately unfavorable score (73-72), were positive. Even Aíto, who made his debut on the bench, admitted that the team was better than expected.
Be that as it may, the big surprise was the presence on the track of Marc Gasol. The pivot was supposed to be still recovering from knee trouble and in fact there has been no announcement from the club about his continuation despite everyone obviously taking it for granted. The 21 minutes he played are an original way of reaffirming what will be: Gasol will be in the ACB. From the club, he made sure that he wanted to prove himself in the Tournament of St. Julian of Vilatorta. Pol Molins, who is still with the team before leaving for Palma, also played.
Yesterday was a very intense friendly that was not decided until the end. The start of the match was symptomatic of the raucousness and equality that the 1,200 spectators (the majority, all told, from Manresa) would experience. 14 points (7-7) in just the first two and a half minutes. The trend remained throughout the first half, but slightly in favor of Pedro Martínez’s team, which with Tyson Pérez and Jerrick Harding on fire, closed the first two quarters 40 to 34. Little by little, however, Básquet Girona take a step forward, tipping the scales in his favor. The last quarter started with the score 55 to 53, and Aíto’s team managed to put themselves seven points ahead (58-65), their biggest lead of the game. Although, already in the last minutes, it seemed that Gasol would keep the result by forcing some free throws and hitting a three-pointer, the quality of Manresa and a poorly played last possession deprived them of the triumph. “We haven’t trained much and we don’t know each other very well”, said Aíto, satisfied with what he saw in a match where Eric Vila and Kameron Taylor were the best. And also Gasol, of course.