The champs may have learned a valuable lesson about finishing games off.
Gran Canaria caught itself just in time to avoid collapse
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3 Mins read
Dreamland Gran Canaria was cruising through three quarters and then took its foot off the gas, giving last placed Slask Wroclaw a chance to get back into the game. The reigning champion eventually caught itself just in time.
Gran Canaria led by 22 points late in the third quarter and was still up 77-56 with 6 minutes to go. But Slask fought back to make it a 4-point game before Gran Canaria won 81-77 to remain undefeated at 7-0 in Group B.
“We played a pretty solid game for three quarters. In the last quarter we stopped playing and gave Wroclaw a chance to get back into the game. In the end, it’s a win. We will take it. But we have to play for 40 minutes,” Gran Canaria head coach Jaka Lakovic said afterwards.
Free throws from veterans Ferran Bassas and AJ Slaughter in the final 32 seconds was all the offense Gran Canaria could muster in the final 6 minutes.
“Obviously we won so we feel good. We did let them make it a little closer in the end but we were able to pull it out. So all in all we are happy with it,” said Ben Lammers, who tallied 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 blocks for the winners.
Gran Canaria seemed to be rolling still in the fourth quarter despite Lakovic playing some of his team’s youngsters.
“We did give a chance to players who don’t usually get a lot of minutes. But we gave away the momentum to Slask totally and they came back,” said Lakovic, who gave big minutes in the final frame to Ruben Lopez, Roko Prkacin and Jovan Kljajic.
The 21-year-old Ruben Lopez set a new career high with 18 minutes played and picked up 2 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block. The 20-year-old Roko Prkacin scored a career high 9 points in a career high 16 minutes. And 22-year-old Kljajic had 4 points in 17 minutes - the second time he’s played more than 16 minutes this season.
The lessons learned nearly cost Gran Canaria the game though until Lakovic eventually subbed all three out for his regulars to try to regain control of the game. And it barely worked in time.