New Year New Life. Or rather, renewed by Benfica after being national champion, revolutionized by Sporting despite the victory in the Portuguese Cup. As usual in the summer markets of the main basketball teams, there were many changes, especially by foreigners in all the formations of the League, with a foreseeable increase in competitiveness among the great candidates for the title, as seen in the final of the Lisbon International Tournament that ended with a 90-89 victory for the reds against the lions in extra time and also in the decisive match of the Viana do Castelo International Tournament, with a new victory for the eagles this time against the FC Porto also after extra time by 93-86. The first official trophy of the season followed in Torres Novas, again discussed between Lisbon’s rivals.
The law of the strongest can be postponed but not annulled: Benfica “runs over” FC Porto in Dragão and becomes champion five years later
“There are differences, specifically in Sporting’s offensive ideas. It is a team that plays a lot with direct blocks and we will have to know how to defend that. At a defensive level it is a bit similar, it seeks to extend the defense to the entire field, place 2v1 situations, take the rival out of the normal rhythm. It is up to us to find the advantages that we can generate in them”, said Norberto Alves, coach of Benfica to the club’s channel. “Positive results are always good. We started the preseason well but that’s what it’s worth. The focus is to start well against Sporting. We will approach it as seriously as possible, competently. It is the responsibility of always, being a title to dispute and win”, he added.
???? EITHER #BasketBenfica won the Lisbon International Tournament!
???? SL Benfica 90-89 Sporting CP#SóHáUmBenfica #Ramirez #GTC @adidas pic.twitter.com/LfALsdDOFi
— SLBenfica Modalities (@modalidadesslb) September 4, 2022
“The team is doing well, we had a somewhat limited preseason in terms of games but the indications that the team gave during the preparation were positive. Regarding the Super Cup match, Sporting always plays to win, wherever they are and with whomever they are. This is our mentality and we do not give up our way of thinking. The Benfica team has some points in its favour. At the moment they have the same coach and most of the players remain. That is why there are more routines, they are better understood and, furthermore, There were other entries that provide quality. These are factors that can make it difficult for us but we always want to win”, said Pedro Nuno, Sporting’s new coach, to the club’s channel.
To the sound of Shakir, with the footsteps of Travante: Sporting beat Benfica and make history with the third Portuguese Cup in a row
After a run of 11 consecutive wins for Sporting between February 2020 and February 2022 in the derby with matches in the League, Hugo dos Santos Cup, FIBA Cup and Lisbon International Tournament, Benfica managed to turn those numbers around . He arrived in Torres Novas with four wins in the last five games against the lions. More than that, he started with that theoretical advantage of having a base that brought more reinforcements from last season who knew the national reality like James Ellisor, who was champion with Oliveirense and Sporting. It was in this context that the decision came, which could only give the Verdiblanco team the second Super Cup after the victory against Immortal last year or the 15th trophy for the eagles, by far the club with the most titles. In an exciting finale, He fell to Sporting.
It started as it had ended: Sporting wins the Immortal and wins the first Super Cup in history
The game had two completely different moments in the first half, the first being almost the best seen in an NBA and the second with several moments of the worst that can be seen in national competition. The lions scored the first points, then the reds went ahead with an advantage of four but it was the Verdiblanco team that managed to dominate with a high percentage of shots that not even the defense in the opposing zone could minimize, winning by 33 -28 at the end of the first ten minutes after a reaction from Benfica. In the second quarter, the Reds managed to have a more aggressive defense, conceding just two points in four minutes to Sporting, tied in the 35th minute against an oasis of goals scored but could not resist a new Verdiblanco promotion in the game that allowed biggest advantage so far after a consecutive play by João Fernandes (48-37).
The second part continued with Sporting on top, further increasing the maximum advantages, which had the highest point with 61-45 that lasted until the last ten minutes, which started with 69-54 for the lions. Then, everything changed: Benfica’s 2:3 zone defense had an effect, the risk of pressuring almost the entire field also conditioned the lions a lot, the triples began to fall in the game, they entered the last possessions with the champions glued the champion of the Portuguese Cup just one point away (83-82), keeping the excitement until the end with Sporting managing to stop the series of errors that cost them the wide advantage and to close the game with a 89-84 win.
Source: Observadora
