Por first time since 2004 there will be no teams from the Endesa League in the Final Four. Since then, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Baskonia or Unicaja They had not lacked the appointment and even coincided in the fight for Euroleague. But Yes there will be Spanish representation in Abu Dhabi with the figure of Juancho Hernangómez. The Panathinaikos eaves will try to compensate for that orphanhood that national basketball can feel.
Juancho will fight in the Final Four for his second Euroleague in a row. It would be the first Spanish player who won the title in consecutive seasons for 57 years. You have to go back to 1968 to find precedents. It was with the triumphs of Madrid that course and the previous one. In the template, illustrious as José Ramón Ramos, Emiliano, Clifford Luyk, LOLO SAINZ …
Juancho Hernangómez celebrates an action in the first game of the series against Anadolu Efes.
Last year, the first after returning from the NBA, Juancho did not have the prominence he has had in the current one. The eave has become a key piece in the current Euroleague champion. There are his numbers. He has averaged 27:16 minutes, only surpassed in the Athenian team by Kendrick Nunnteam and MVP star of the competition. It has been the third top scorer with 10.1 points on average, only Mathias Lessort surpassed him in rebounds with 7.0 and there have been those two companions who have had the best average valuation with 15.5.
It has also been, together with Jerian Grant, the only Panathinaikos player who has participated in the 39 Euroleague gamesa sample of reliability. All this and An extraordinary defense They have taken him to Be part of the second best quintet of the competition Together with Mike James, Theo Malle, Evan Fournier and Walter Tavares. Installed in the continental elite.
After criticism and worries, the Euroleague
Nothing to do with last year's version, when it cost him the adaptation to FIBA basketball and received strong public criticism from his coach, Ergin Atamanwhich recriminated his defensive mistakes, his disconnections. The averages of then 4.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.8 valuation They have been multiplied. The attainment of the Euroleague took off his worries.
Juancho Hernangómez celebrates a basket of the Panathinaikos.
This campaign, Juancho has even beaten his stops in the maximum continental competition. In the first game of the playoff series against Anadolu Efes, he made one of the best matches of his career: 20 points, 16 rebounds, three assists, three recoveries and two caps for 40 valuation. The Oaka, who has raised him as one of his idols, chanted his name. The tie ended with averages of 8.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 16.0 assessment.
The little one of the Hernangómez, in which it may be The best moment of his career will act as an ambassador of Spanish basketball In Abu Dhabi while pursuing his second continental scepter.
