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Both teams scored over 90 points in the first round

Gran Canaria gave a shining display at the opening, beating Laboral in Vitoria and demonstrating that they may even be better than last season, when they played in the semifinal

Both teams had an ideal opening to the season. Gran Canaria was once again fatal for Laboral Kutxa after eliminating them in the first round of last year's playoff. Now they won 99-96 in Vitoria after extra time. Murcia on the other hand beat Fuenlabrada at home by +20 in a strange game, where it was only 68-64 after 34 minutes played. This might be a very interesting and attractive meeting of two teams that both did a very good job in the summer.

-Murcia can really surprise you. They are in good form, with lots of perimeter shots, tall players who can shoot in various ways. Murcia above all have quality. This makes us cautious- said the Gran Canaria coach Pedro Martinez.

-Murcia are on par with us.

If that is truly so, then Murcia are a very good team, because Gran Canaria have already demonstrated their quality in the first round. They had +11 at halftime vs Laboral, and might have had more with just a little more focus and composure in the closing moments of the first half. They lost the third quarter by 11 points, Laboral came back, and even took the lead. However, Gran Canaria showed mental strength and remained in the game, to deserve the win in the end.

Having scored 15 points in 30 minutes coming off the bench, although his field shot percentage was underwhelming (3/12), Ben Hansborough showed he will be an excellent replacement for Toolson, who left for Unicaja. Nacho Martin was an excellent alternative to Spencer Nelson, who is now in Siena. Martin arrived from Valladolid and loaded Laboral up with 22 points. Their third big reinforcement, point guard Oliver, added 17 points. Interestingly, all three of them came in off the bench, and coach Martínez opened the game with Bellas as point guard, Beirán and Newley at 2 and 3, Báez at power forward  and Rey as center. This shows the quality and options available to them. The fourth bench player who scored 10 or more was another reinforcement that arrived this summer, Ian O'Leary, who came in with Martin from Valladolid. Gran Canaria did excellent on the market, and seem very compact and brimming with quality. Today they wish to present themselves to the fans in the right way.

The first away game is always easier if you opened the season with a victory. Murcia beat Fuenlabrada +20, which gives the first impression of an easy job, when it was anything but easy. After 34 minutes the scoreboard said 68-64, but as Murcia built up a bit of a lead, Fuenlabrada unexpectedly sank and stopped fighting. The last quarter ended 30-14.

It was easy to see that the key players of the new Murcia team that was reconstructed this summer will be the new American guards Dwayne Davis (19pts, 7/13 from field) and Scott Wood (14pts, 4/6 three pointers). Others who made a proper introduction to the audience were point guard Rodrigo San Miguel (12pts, 4/5 three pointers, 4rbs, 4ass, 5 stolen), who arrived from Valencia, and center Augusto Lima (17pts, 13rbs), brought in from Unicaja. Compared to the last season, this is a new team, put together much better and with much more options.

Coach Quintana could not count on power forward Ben Romdhane earlier due to stomach problems, but today he will be on the rotation as well, helping Antelo and Tillie in the paint. The two of them scored 28 points and 12 rebounds combined. Murcia lied up an unreal shooting session with 14/25 for three points. On the other hand, they have been known as a good offensive team for several seasons now, with games at 90 points, but were often having trouble staying constant and could not repeat good performances from round to round.

-For me the Gran Canaria court is one of the three most difficult away venues in the league. They are clearly a great team, they made it to the semifinals last year. They've kept most of their roster, invested a lot of effort into improving themselves and I believe their goal is to at least repeat what they achieved last year- said Murcia coach Oscar Quintana prior to today's match.

-We must go to Las Palmas to win, not to fight. Boxers fight- quipped Quintana in the end.

They created somewhat of a surprise here last year by winning 78-68, while they lost 99-97 at home after extra time.

Murcia have been an offense oriented team ever since Quintana took over. Even more so this season after the new signings joined this summer. They scored 93 points against Fuenlabrada in the start. They are usually doing good against Gran Canaria, they beat them here last season, and they scored 78, 91, and 76 points in their last three head to head matches respectively. I expect a good game today as well, Gran Canaria, (who scored 99 points against Laboral away in the first match), seem to be even better than last season, and coach Martinez tried to stick to the concept he established in the last seasons. He had to led Nelson and Toolson go, but replaced them with players if similar quality, and even managed to create a better team. I'll give Murcia more credit than the bookmakers, I'll try go over 72,5 for the visiting team, which is available with numerous bookmakers (Marathon, Bwin, SportingBet, and so on).