We're now entering the second half of the Torneo de Apertura; teams we faced at home in the first swing will now be road games, while previous road opponents will now visit the friendly confines of our gym (pictured above). So it was our turn to visit Liceo de Costa Rica last night as we kicked off the second swing through the league.
Saturday night we went up against my old team Escazu. It was an effortless win against an overmatched squad. Escazu is making a go of it this year with a very young squad and a couple of veterans, but they just don't have the firepower to butt heads with the stronger teams. We won by 40 points, and to be honest we didn't play that well, particularly in the first half. Our bench had a strong showing in the second half which let us play everyone some minutes.
We played the game everyone was expecting; the six time defending champion Barva versus the upstart challenger Sanatura. I'm sure Barva circled this game as soon as the schedule came out and details of our team became apparent; we were certainly looking forward to this game. On paper, it looks like an even matchup. Both teams are deep on the perimeter and the post. Games aren't played on paper, however, and Barva has a big advantage; they have played together for years while we put this team together in a few months. So the stage was set for an epic showdown on Tuesday night, the first of what should be several encounters.
Friday night I saw a miracle. That night, we played a veteran laden team of Cartago. Their leading scorer is Alejandro Grijalba. In the past five years or so, Grijalba has been through two serious motorcycle accidents. The first time he was in intensive care for two weeks. His last accident was this past December The last one this past December where as he was leaving a gas station a speeding car plowed into him leading to some pretty serious injuries (Accident article). I don't think anyone expected him to be playing basketball again, let alone this season. And yet there he was on Friday, not only playing but carving up our defense for nifty moves and step back jumpers, scoring 29 points. Now I don't know Grijalba well...but I have to say I have the utmost respect for his passion and dedication.
I did not see this coming in the first round. I thought Duke overachieved all year long, ending up with a second seed in the tournament. I wasn't too impressed by the team before the season, but Coach K was able to squeeze out every possible win from this team. I thought the basketball gods were going to give us a Kentucky mauling of Duke, a karmic payback for the 20 year anniversary of the Laetner game.
Arguably the toughest place to play in this league is at Limon. First you start with a three hour ride down to the Caribbean coast. Then you factor in the heat and the humidity in a gym a stone's throw away from the ocean; add in a loud crowd that knows it's basketball and is really into the game. Finally, you top that off with what is usually a good team and that all factors into a tough roast test for any team.
Perez Zeledon has been the talk of the league early on with their new acquisitions, Dominican point guard Cesar Chaves and American forward Durell Sykes. The Dominican guy is good at getting to the basket and kicking out to shooters (more often than not sharpshooter, Jackie Acuña). The American forward is a handful on the baseline; he has some good hops and size which makes him a factor on the offensive glass. So going into the game we were focused on this quality opponent.
