Euroleague – rooms – working day 5
A last quarter to forget, one of those with a small team and little blood, with a sprained wrist, with a “I want and I can’t” box, left Barça without the Final Four, a shame from those who sting because it confirmed that the post-Jasikevicius project and post-Mirotic broke down. Olympiacos, always in tow until they rebelled with McKissic, silenced the Palau and the Blaugrana, derailed from Europe and absent from the big event for the first time in four seasons.
Reduced to nothing in the last challenge, Barça understood that it had to offer a much more energetic version, be more supportive in defense and avoid the easy shots of an opponent whose hand you shake and who takes your arm. Fueled by a boiling Palau, Barça distilled from the beginning a Herculean defense, timely scoring, denial of passes and non-stop stealing. But scoring was a different story for everyone except Laprovittola.
BARCELONA, 59 – OLYMPIACOS, 63
Barcelona: Satoransky (2), Laprovittola (17), Kalinic (0), Parker (4) and Vesely (6) -starting quintet-; Da Silva (0), Rubio (6), Hernangómez (9), Abrines (13) and Jokubaitis (2).
Olympiacos: Walkup (3), Canaan (6), Peters (6), Papanikolau (11) and Fall (0) -initial quintet-; Williams-Goss (8), Wright (2), Larentzakis (0), Petrusev (5), Milutinov (10) and McKissic (12).
Partials: 12-9, 15-16, 13-15 and 19-23.
Referees: Radovic (Croatia), Javor (Slovenia) and Nikolic (Serbia). No eliminations.
Palau Blaugrana. 7,742 spectators.
You don’t see the Argentine rant or roar at the sky, nor make a fuss because he doesn’t have the right dressing, nor does his heart rate accelerate. He is a sober leader who asks for the ball when it bothers others. And that happened when the curtain opened, a first quarter in which no one saw the rim, where shots and errors occurred, since there were 31 shots and only seven baskets, in addition to two free throws from Canaan and Ricky Rubio. But Laprovittola dictated the opposite, ramp towards the basket, Barça’s first eight points. His ball, his reign, his fourth (12-9).
Bartzokas was upset because he can’t stand losses, the Olympiacos players endured the downpour without correcting themselves because the thefts continued, now from Abrines, now from Ricky. And so many extra balls found a prize, sips from Hernangómez under the rim. Insufficient, in any case, to break the Greek rival, with callous for the fight, taking refuge in physical exercise and European refereeing permissiveness, in addition to the direction of Williams-Goss and the centimeters of Milutinov to blur the distance, to explain that if he had to die he would do so standing. Although the hubbub without an orange ball gave Laprovittola so much that he asked for the round again to close the event in a tight duel (27-25).
Always gallant, eager for great challenges, Canaan also wanted to leave his mark on the challenge. But the night was not for individuals but for the collective and Barça honored the musketeers – one for all and all for one –, spurred on by a Palau that was bustling like never before, a Barça communion. Although there were no hands with points (horrible Kalinic and Parker did not score one; 0 of 7 triples) nor surrender of Olympiacos, always slipstreaming until they reached the prologue on equal terms, 40-40, intrigue and bellyache.
It happened then that Barça became small, a jug version, rushes that gave air to an Olympiacos, capable of taking the lead for the first time (47-49) with a triple from McKissic. Theirs was the revolution, another notch from the periphery and a layup to open the gap, Barcelona soaking after a new triple from Papanikolau. Just enough to beat a Barça that at the moment of truth was left without arguments and silent, also eliminated.
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