Euroleague – rooms – working day 2
After the initial setback, Barcelona rectified and equalized the access series to the Final Four in Berlin, although it was not easy. The Barça team got tangled in the first of the battles, but in the second they imposed their conditions. They will have to win at least one of the two matches at the Peace and Friendship stadium, which will be neither peaceful nor friendly next week, but that is the price to pay to be in Berlin.
Olympiacos was as fearsome as in the first match. Bartzokas, his coach, gives his men a slippery coating that is difficult to hold on to, but Roger Grimau’s team wanted to clip his wings from the first moment and tried to be as careless as possible to achieve an essential victory. They had no choice, except that within a few days they would commit themselves to a Homeric feat that rarely turns out well.
As soon as he left, it was Laprovittola who marked territory by scoring the first five points for his team, after the criticism he received in the first match at the Palau, although Peters responded with the first eight for the Greek team. The Argentine’s initials were the only points he scored in the entire match, because after that brilliant start, he got stuck in the game again, although others took center stage.
Barça took control during the first quarter. Jabari Parker got into his game right away and led the takeoff, just as Ricky Rubio retired to the sideline with an ankle problem. It took him a while to recover, but his team, quite engaged in the game, didn’t need it. Satoransky (7 points) had his moments, and Hernangómez battled like a colossus under the basket (11 points, 4 rebounds). Vesely was also attentive to collect the rebounded balls (7). The machine was working, which got somewhat stuck in the second quarter, in which Barça lowered the level a few degrees, and even more so in the third, when the star of the Greek team, Milutinov, appeared on the field for the first time, who has played little this season, after the injury that forced him to have surgery. His presence activated his teammates, especially Williams-Goss. Between one thing and another, Olympiacos turned the game around (54-55), and set off alarms on the Barça side.
But Grimau had two lethal weapons at his side. Parker, and above all, Alex Abrines, appeared and in the last ten minutes they turned the game around like a sock. The Mallorcan player scored two consecutive triples that marked the difference on the scoreboard. The one from Chicago, with his 24 points and his energy, contributed to Barcelona’s superiority in the final minutes, when Bartzokas no longer knew what else to do to get his team to react. The home team stole to run into the open field and looked for comfortable spaces to throw. They regained their momentum and made the difference to achieve victory. It is now their turn to win at least one match in Greece to qualify for the final four in Berlin.
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