Barça will finish in the top four of the regular phase of the Euroleague no matter what happens in the last two days, which is not little. That right was earned by Jasikevicius’s men after defeating Alba Berlin with little brilliance at the Palau, a result that will allow them to have a home field advantage in the quarter-final on their way to the final four in Kaunas. A far from trivial achievement considering that the Barca team has never made it through these playoffs without that advantage. Of course, equality and the spectacular fight to enter the top eight prevents any sane mind from speculating about the possible rival. Avoiding Efes, who are on their way to another classification on the horn, seems the only thing everyone would agree on.
Despite closing the goal, it was not a night of great basketball that took place this Thursday in Barcelona. The first half was quickly eradicated from the memory of all those present at the Palau, Barça’s lack of intensity was tremendous, thinking that they had everything done, more meritorious was the effort of an Alba with nothing at stake who at least tried to compete. The image of the azulgranas was not good at all in that first leg of the match in which, among many other shortcomings, they barely scored a triple, a very unusual figure. Not even his indisputable technical superiority was enough for him to go to the changing rooms in command of the game despite the final sprint led by Laprovittola. Delow, on the horn, signed 34-35. The job was far from done.
But the forces of the Germans were already at a minimum and the Barça hammer was making a dent in the rival little by little. Without great brilliance, Barça seized control in the light and widened the differences. A slap from Sanli made it 50-42 in the last action of the third act. In the last one, the figure of Kalinic emerged to put the sentence (62-45, minute 33). It only took minutes to pass for the Palau to begin preparations and to pick up his gala dress for what is to come. Jasikevicius wants to go back to his hometown.
72. Barça (19 15 16 22): Satoransky (6), Laprovittola (7), Kuric (7), Mirotic (11), Vesely (6) -initial team-, Da Silva (2), Sanli (12), Kalinic (10), Abrines (5), Higgins (4) and Jokubaitis (2).
56. ALBA Berlin (21 14 7 14): Lo (6), Smith (5), Olinde (7), Sikma (4), Koumadje (2) -starting team-, Delow (5), Wetzell (9), Schneider (6), Thiemann (2), Lammers (7), Blatt (0) and Zoosman (3).
Arbitros: Sreten Radovic (CRO), Joseph Bissang (FRA) and Vasiliki Tsaroucha (GRE). Sin eliminados.
Incidents: game of the thirty-second day of the Euroleague played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 6,309 spectators.
