Since 2019, Gran Canaria has struggled to win at the Santiago Martín, encountering four tough defeats in a row. Two of these were crushing losses in the subsequent years, while the other two were equally painful as victory seemed within reach. It’s time to rise above the string of losses in Tenerife (12:00pm, #Vamos), as highlighted by Jaka Lakovic in the lead-up to the match: “History is meant to be rewritten”.
Basketball dominance in the Canary Islands has leaned towards the chicharrero side in the last five years. There’s no harm in acknowledging that Tenerife seems to have the upper hand, with eight out of the last nine derbies ending in yellow and black victory, including a Copa del Rey elimination in Badalona last year.
This Lenovo supremacy should serve as a catalyst for Dreamland, so that the 210 loyal Claret fans who are making the trip over to the Burger King Arena, return without much complaint, except maybe some seasickness due to the rough weather conditions threatening the Archipelago.
Maximum Equality
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Let’s hope Gran Canaria doesn’t have to wait as long as their football counterpart, UD Las Palmas, who took 20 years to break the curse at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium. Especially now, when a victory in this derby carries more weight in a tightly contested battle for the top spots in the standings, with only two wins separating the third-placed team from the tenth.
The close competition mirrors the top tier of the Liga Endesa, just like the two rivals today, as this is only the second time that Gran Canaria and Tenerife clash while being one spot apart, albeit higher up the ladder, holding fifth and sixth place respectively, with 16 and 15 wins each.
Impressive stats for both teams at this stage of the championship, thanks to their recent positive streaks leading up to the island derby.
Both Dreamland and Lenovo have won nine of their last twelve matches in the Liga Endesa, albeit against varying levels of opponents.
The yellow and black team lost to Barça and Real Madrid by 80-83 and 80-78, two closely fought defeats during the period when Txus Vidorreta managed to revive the team after a shaky start to the league with four losses in the first six matches.
And following their victory in the first-round derby in overtime by 82-94. The average is also at stake.
Turn the Tables
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If Gran Canaria needs any extra motivation to start the game without slip-ups, as highlighted by both John Shurna and Jaka Lakovic, they can draw on the memory of Tenerife spoiling the retirement ceremony of president Sitapha Savané in the first derby of last season.
A connection to the event that will take place today in La Laguna with the retirement of Nico Richotti’s jersey number 5 five minutes before the game kicks off.
This is a moment in history that could also shine for Marcelinho Huertas, who is three assists away from breaking the ACB record held by Pablo Laso with 2,896.
