Moving forward, which is a gerund. First, on the left in the Euroleague on the last day. And this Sunday, on the right, Real Madrid again in a classic with a clear Barca color that, together with the defeat of Baskonia, returns Jasikevicius’ men to the leadership of the Endesa League. A triumph, yes, that came with a bill that who knows if it will be too heavy. Higgins, Vesely and Abrines left the court injured ten days before the start of the European playoffs. Worst moment, impossible.
Barça had jumped to the parquet as connected as the Palau proved to be, with more desire for mambo than usual. They began easily entering the triples to those of Jasikevicius. One, two and even three almost in a row without failure. The last one, from Satoransky, drew 13-7. But the first rotations of the Lithuanian coach did not sit well with his team against a Madrid that, given the casualties, was forced to extend the playing time of its men.
Mateo did not order his first change until the eighth minute of play, but what a change. Musa’s irruption on the track ended up turning what was happening on the track, which was suddenly dyed white. Barça was very thick in attack and the losses were accumulating again on their statistical sheet. With the Bosnian as the spearhead, Madrid completed a 0-12 that gave them their greatest difference (15-22). The bad news was accumulating on the Barça side because Higgins, who started in the starting lineup, suffered low back pain that kept him from the duel.
With more faith than play, Barça tried to dodge as best they could the blows that a highly inspired Musa continued to endorse (16p at halftime). He rotated and rotated Jasikevicius trying to find the key. And Satoransky and Mirotic were the two players who offered him the most reliability in attack. They were scratching points little by little, without haste but without pause, the Catalans, capable of cutting the gap on the scoreboard to a Madrid that without Musa could not hit the switch. Tavares also got involved in unnecessary protests and was not capable of imposing his own law in the area. Barça took advantage of the circumstance to even go to the changing rooms with an advantage, after a great effort.
The second half began with one of lime and one of sand for the locals. Tavares committed his third personal foul but, in turn, an injury to Vesely’s left knee was also confirmed. Second weight drop for Jasikevicius. Despite this, Barça confirmed his improvement and returned to the path of success in the three-pointer, which allowed him to start facing the road to victory. Some electric last minutes of the third act ended with a resounding 76-59 score, after two free throws by Kuric.
Madrid gave clear signs of fatigue and the Catalans, very plugged in, only had to succeed by managing that advantage in the last ten minutes. The whites tightened the screws in defense in a last attempt to return to the match, and with a great Yabusele they were on the verge of achieving it. A 0-11 to start the fourth returned the anxiety to the Palau, encouraged by Abrines’ left ankle sprain. But the Catalans calmed down and Madrid faded away until the horn sounded. The leadership was for Barça, but the bill to achieve it was terrifying.
97. Barça (17 30 31 19): Satoransky (18), Higgins (0), Abrines (8), Mirotic (23), Vesely (8) -initial team-, Paulà (0), Sanli (12), Kalinic (6), Laprovittola (14), Tobey (2), Kuric (2) and Nnaji (4).
82. Real Madrid (24 22 17 19): Hanga (11), Causeur (2), Hezonja (9), Yabusele (19), Tavares (8) -initial team-, Williams-Goss (2), Abalde (5 ), Sergio RodrÃguez (2), Cornelie (0), Llull (0) and Musa (24).
Referees: Carlos Peruga, Óscar Perea and MartÃn Caballero. They eliminated visiting Tavares with five personnel (min.35).
Incidents: match of the twenty-seventh round of the Endesa League played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona in front of 7,580 spectators. The best entry of the season.
