{"id":496764,"date":"2026-05-14T07:46:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=496764"},"modified":"2026-05-14T07:46:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T05:46:15","slug":"valencia-makes-history-pedro-martinez-celebrates-it-is-a-day-we-will-always-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/valencia-makes-history-pedro-martinez-celebrates-it-is-a-day-we-will-always-remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Valencia makes history, Pedro Mart\u00ednez celebrates: \u201cIt is a day we will always remember\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Valencia Basket<\/strong> made history. Pedro Mart\u00ednez\u2019s team defeated Panathinaikos<\/strong> 81-64 in Game 5, completing a 3-2 comeback after trailing 0-2 in the series, and reached the EuroLeague Final Four<\/strong> for the first time ever. At the Roig Arena, it was a night of defense, energy and total connection with the fans.<\/p>\n

Pedro Mart\u00ednez described the emotion of the win: \u201cThe atmosphere was impressive, we felt very comfortable. It is a day that, even as the years go by, we will remember, because it gives us qualification but also because of the feelings we had throughout the day.\u201d Then he added: \u201cWith this kind of communion, it is very difficult to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach spoke about the city\u2019s excitement: \u201cIt was a great party. I walk a lot in the streets and this week has been impressive. People who used to pass by and say nothing showed incredible excitement. It moved me, because it means the team is transmitting something. Making those people happy is a very beautiful goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez also mentioned the people behind the club and Juan Roig: \u201cI am very happy to see the club workers, Juan Roig and his family enjoying this, because they are the main architects of all this.\u201d On the game, he said: \u201cWe had pressure, but we handled it well. The team was very focused, nothing took it out of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Valencia built the win with a near-perfect defensive first half, leading 35-23 at the break, and then survived Panathinaikos\u2019 third-quarter push. In the decisive stretch, big shots from Thompson and De Larrea reopened the gap. Brancou Badio scored 20 points, Jean Montero added 12, and Braxton Key had 12 while playing with a protective mask.<\/p>\n

\u201cI highlight the great concentration of the players throughout the series, how we adjusted and how they adapted,\u201d Mart\u00ednez added. \u201cPlaying as a team gave us a lot in the whole series, because they are probably better than us one-on-one.\u201d On Montero, he said: \u201cThe day he scored the fewest points is the day I think he played his best game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coach refused to answer Ergin Ataman\u2019s comments about free throws: \u201cWe are in the Final Four, it is impressive, a great success for the club and for all the people who worked for this. We are very happy.\u201d Now comes a semifinal against Real Madrid: \u201cLet\u2019s see if we can be competitive against a team that has been hurting us lately.\u201d But this night belongs to Valencia: the taronja club has completed the dream.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Valencia Basket defeated Panathinaikos 81-64 in Game 5 and reached the EuroLeague Final Four for the first time in club history<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":496754,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[199],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-496764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-euroleague"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2026\/05\/55268465224_1a69ca2979_k.jpg","digistream_id":0,"digistream":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496764"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496764\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496764"},{"taxonomy":"rumors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rumors?post=496764"},{"taxonomy":"typology","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/typology?post=496764"},{"taxonomy":"posizionamento","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posizionamento?post=496764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}