Yesterday we attended Palau Blaugrana to watch the first game of the ACB Finals between Regal FC Barcelona and Bizkaia Bilbao Basket. We arrived at the gym 45 minutes before the start and we saw Memphis Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace talking with his phone, and ready to see the show. Team coached by Xavi Pascual added its first victory (74-64) and now they have the chance to put the 2-0 tomorrow afternoon. Only one player born in 1989 or later in both teams, but the current #1 of Eurohopes. We are talking about phenom Ricky Rubio ('90). And he made his fifth zero (in points) of this season, finishing with a 0/3 FG (two of them alone at three-points line in the last 2 minutes). Not the best day to see details. But it seems that the rising star will leave to the NBA this summer, so it was interesting to watch his match-up with Duquesne's Aaron Jackson ('86).
Last time the guard started the contest was on May 15th. Yesterday, to the bench again. Barça has been playing much better with Victor Sada ('84). With 16-7 (m.7) Rubio appears. First action: steal and assist for an easy lay-up of Joan Carles Navarro. Greek coach Fotis Katsikaris decided to send Jackson to the bench. The match-up must wait. When the local defense fourced bad shots of Bilbao hosts started to run easy, with Rubio playing confortable on open court. But with no offense threat. He missed his first shot. A very bad shot. Like a shot of a junior in his first minutes with a big team. Otherwise he made the crowd enjoy with a non-looking pass. With 28-18 he returns to the bench after a couple of good defense actions over shooting-machine Kostas Vasiliadis ('84). Half time. 43-31 for Regal FC Barcelona. 31-20 with Sada playing. 12-11 with Rubio playing. Sada started again in the third quarter, but his third foul (50-33 m.25) makes Rubio come back. A good few minutes of him, with Barcelona running and running (breaking the game), with the guard trying to make the unpredictable with his vision court (like an assist falling down at base line) made enjoy the people again. But three minutes later he made his third foul. To the bench. Pascual players killed Bilbao. He appeared again with 66-48, but the game was over. The match-up between him and Jackson didn't exist. He had time to shoot a couple of threes alone (one with 2 minutes in the clock and the other one with 30 seconds). But no way. After the final buzzer he grabbed the ball, throwing it very high. Very high. The ball stayed in some place of Palau Blaugrana's roof.
To leave or not to leave. Is the best moment for him to leave? We think so.
Photo: ACB Photo
