The blaugrana are knocked out of the Euroleague final (66-78), after the blaugrana star was down to three very poor points
An unbeatable Tavares (20 points and 14 rebounds) along with a great Sergio Rodríguez (12), settled the balance for the whites
Barça once again experienced a painful semifinal in the Euroleague after losing to Real Madrid for the second consecutive year (66-78) and stay again at the gates of the final. A fateful night for the Barça star, Nikola Mirotic, who in the most important game of the season stayed at three very poor points, with ridiculous percentages for his ‘cache’. Another wasted Euroleague.
FCB
MAD
LINEUPS
Barcelona, 66
(18+24+13+11): Satoransky (7), Laprovittola (12), Abrines (16), Mirotic (XX), Sanli (0)-starting five-, Vesely (XX), Sergi Martinez (0), Kalinic (6) Kuric (11), Jokubaitis (6), Nnaji (1).
Real Madrid, 78
(18+18+22+20): Williams-Goss (10), Hanga (0), Musa (7), Ndiaye (2), Tavares (20)- starting five-, Causeur (0), Randolph (6) , Rudy (2), Hezonja (14), Sergio Rodríguez (12), Llull (5).
Referees:
Sasa Pukl (ESL), Emin Mogulkoc (TUR), Mehdi Difallah (FRA). No deleted.
Incidents:
Second semifinal at the Zalgiro Arena in Kaunas, before 15,500 spectators, with an ovation for Jokubaitis and Saras at the presentation.
Madrid started the game better with a Tavares marking his territory in the area and leaving too many doubts in the blaugrana attack (0-6). With Mirotic having more trouble than expected with his marker, Ndiaye, it was Abrines who opened the tin with a three-pointer, of course.
Ndiaye was the surprise in those first minutes causing mistakes in Mirotic, including a foul in attack. Without the Montenegrin’s points, it had to be Satoransky and Abrines, again from long distance to try to match the good white start (9-10).
Barça managed to turn it around with a triple hit, with two more from Kalinic and an inspired Abrines (15-11), with Williams Goss also responding from afar. Nobody stepped on the area except Tavares, who had lost influence in the game.
Abrines wakes up in the triple
Saras moved the bench with Sergi Martínez and Kuric while Mateo did it with Causseur, Hezonja and Sergio Rodríguez. Jokubaitis’ first appearance was greeted with enthusiasm at the Zalgirio Arena. One of their own, protagonist in the semifinal.
Hanga chases Laprovittola in the first quarter of the game
| AFP
Match tied at the end of the first quarter (18-18) cwith Barça, protagonist in the triple (6 of 10, three from Abrines) before the control of Tavares in the area (10 points and 6 rebounds).
With an active Jokubaitis in charge, Barça gained offensive dynamism, and found Kuric to join the cause of the triple (25-22) together with the Lithuanian point guard who gave the maximum blaugrana of the match (27-22).
Blaugrana dominance at rest
Those of Saras achieved a maximum of seven (32-25) and Chus Mateo ordered a zone defense, trying to avoid long shots. Satoransky returned to the game after good minutes from Jokubaitis, and Madrid caught air with baskets from Hanga and Hezonja (33-29).
Abrines, in a defensive action against Musa
| AFP
Laprovittola joined the triple party to maintain a good income (36-29). He had to keep her at rest, which he avoided Sergi Llull with one of his ‘mandarins’ to leave Madrid close to the Blaugrana at halftime (42-36). And without a point of Mirotic,. the worst team (-5)
At the restart, Madrid came out more aggressive, and again, depending on Tavares, that cut the Blaugrana income back to six, although the fouls fell on Barça, which forced Abrines to be sent to the bank with four, and five from Barça in just four minutes. Madrid was close (47-43).
Mirotic had a dark night in attack
| AFP
The first spark jumped in an action by Hanga that overwhelmed Vesely, although the Czech did not take advantage of any shot…something that Tavares did, with the whites adding from the free kick (47-45). The Cape Verdean continued to do his thing and Musa with two consecutive actions rounded off a painful 0-12 run that returned control to Madrid (47-51).
The last effort
The white income increased to seven points after a triple by Willams-Goss (47-54). E Barça reacted with three-pointers from Kuric and Laprovittola, although Madrid finished the fourth ahead (55-58). It had to be turned around in the final 10 minutes.
Barça needed points and Saras put Abrines back, with Laprovittola, who scored the triple to equalize the game (58-58). Mateo trusted the seniority of Sergio Rodríguez, Llull and Rudy Fernándezplaying with three little ones.
Barça continued to have trouble scoring in the most tense minutes of the game. Laprovittola committed an intentional attack on Sergio Rodríguez, who took advantage of the ‘Chacho’ taking offensive control of the whites and extending the lead to seven (60-67).
Tavares extended the lead to eight (61-69) before Mirotic scored his first basket of the game at 2:36 from the end. Perhaps too late to be able to straighten out the semifinal that was once again bitter for Barça (66-78).