The Spanish side led from start to finish to comfortably overcome the French side
Pedro Martinez makes history as Valencia returns to winning ways against Paris
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Valencia Basket play-caller Pedro Martinez made club history on Tuesday night, overtaking Miki Vukovic as the coach with the most games in charge of the Taronjas – and he marked the occasion in style with an important and convincing win over Paris Basketball, 98-84.
The Spanish side’s outstanding season had been in danger of stuttering after suffering consecutive defeats against AS Monaco and Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul, so there was a fair degree of pressure on Martinez and his men as they prepared to face a dangerous Paris team which ranked second in the league in scoring.
Any nerves were settled very early on, though, as Valencia raced into a 15-2 lead in the opening three minutes and 20 seconds, propelled by a trio of players whose dominance would continue throughout the game: Kam Taylor netted 6 of those early points, Neal Sako added 4, and Jean Montero complemented 4 assists with a three-pointer that forced visiting coach Francesco Tabellini into a very early timeout.
The fast start set the tone for the rest of the game, which saw Valencia lead from start to finish and spend most of the game sitting pretty on a series of double-digit advantages. Paris never seriously threatened to get back into the game, even after the hosts lost a lot of their earlier rhythm in a fragmented second half mostly marked by free throws.
Taylor continued to shine as he finished with a career-high 28 points on 8-of-13 field goal shooting plus a perfect 10-of-10 from the foul line, ensuring that the outcome was effectively decided long before the final buzzer.
The home team’s intense defense also played a big part in that, too, especially with Paris sharpshooter Nadir Hifi – the league’s leading scorer – restricted to a rare quiet night as he netted just 8 points, going 0-of-4 from beyond the three-point line.
Martinez underlined that all-round effort after the game, telling EuroLeague TV: “We played good defense for more time than not, and we played with good rhythm and good defense against Nadir [Hifi], who is one of the best players in Europe.”
The veteran coach, who is in his second spell with Valencia after returning to the East Coast club at the start of last season, received a commemorative framed jersey before the game, honoring his 232 games in charge of the team.
That tally takes him to the top of the club’s all-time list ahead of Vukovic, who coached Valencia between 1995 and 2000, winning the 1998 Spanish Cup and helping to establish the team as a serious player on the European stage.
In his usual understated manner, though, Martinez did not want to dwell for too long on his personal achievement as he said: “I’m very happy for this [coaching record] because surpassing a legend like Miki is an honor for me and I’m very happy to be coaching this club. But we need to live in the present, not the past or the future, and the present is another game on Thursday.”
That same message has obviously been drummed into Martinez’s players, because star performer Taylor also insisted his attention was turning immediately to Thursday’s trip to FC Bayern Munich, commenting: “We definitely needed this one and I’m proud of the way the guys came out and finished the game off.
“I’ll be happy for a couple of hours, but we’ve got another game in a couple of days against Munich, so the focus is on that.”
For the visitors it was another tough loss to take, leaving the French team six wins adrift of the playoff places with few signs of a sudden surge up the standings.
And Coach Tabellini was making no excuses, admitting the better team won as he said: “We have another game in 48 hours and we will get back, stick together, and play better basketball.
“Our opponents were outstanding. They had a tremendous performance from the beginning, and we were not able to match the level of intensity they showed from the first minute.”
Struggling to match Valencia’s intensity has been a recurring problem for teams across Europe this season, and much of the credit for that must go to Martinez’s coaching. On this occasion, whether he wants them or not, the headlines belong to him.
