The defending EuroCup champs fell at Gran Canaria Arena for the first time since April 2022, ending a 19-game home-court winning streak.
Lakovic hopes Gran Canaria can learn from 'deserved' loss
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Dreamland Gran Canaria had a chance to clinch a spot in the playoffs and bounce back from its first loss of the season. Instead, the reigning BKT EuroCup champion suffered a blowout 76-98 loss at home to struggling Dolomiti Energia Trento. And head coach Jaka Lakovic is left hoping his team can learn from the defeat.
A Gran Canaria victory coupled with a loss for 7bet Lietkabelis Panevezys, Aris Midea Thessaloniki or Buducnost VOLI Podgorica would have locked up a top-six finish for the Spanish side in Group B. All that talk is on pause as Lakovic now must figure out what is happening to a team that started the season with 10 wins in a row and looked like world-beaters, but now is mired in a two-game losing streak.
“It was a very bad game for us, especially defensively. We didn’t have the right mindset. We didn’t play good and we deservedly lost,” Lakovic said after the game.
Gran Canaria scored a new season low in the game, having previously tallied 81 points in a win over Slask Wroclaw in Round 7 - that coming from the fourth-highest scoring offense in the league.
Lakovic not only has seen his team lose two straight games but both of them were downright poor defensively. Even though ratiopharm Ulm collected a 103-99 win last week, Gran Canaria was still ranked second in scoring defense at just 75.3 points per game coming into the Trento game. The average is now up to 77.2 after conceding 201 points in the last two games.
And it was against a Trento offense that had only produced 75.0 points per game in a recent five-game stretch in which it lost four games.
Gran Canaria came out of the gates hot offensively, scoring 31 points in the first 10 minutes. But Lakovic saw his team tally only 45 points the rest of the way.
“Even though the first quarter ended in our favor I thought we came into the game without the right mentality, and we paid the price. It was a big price,” the coach said.
In addition to the defensive and offensive issues, the coach also must look at his team and wonder where the response was. The largest deficit Gran Canaria had faced all season was 9 points against Turk Telekom Ankara in Round 6.
Trento built a 10-point lead in the second quarter and then delivered a knockout punch in the third stanza as the visitors led by 20 points after 30 minutes. And the fourth quarter was never even close.
“I think Trento was better from the beginning until the end, more aggressive, more desire to play and win. And they totally deserved to win. I hope this is a very good lesson for us,” Lakovic said.
A lesson that Gran Canaria can use later this season in the playoffs - assuming the team doesn’t entirely collapse and makes the post-season.