An era-making setback. Barça did not lose any final on Wednesday, but losing a fifth game in the Euroleague playoffs at the Palau could be compared to any other cataclysm, one of those to which this club has accustomed its members and followers in almost all areas. Few hangovers have been experienced in the Palau like the one on Thursday, the day after losing to Olympiacos and lowering the curtain on the Euroleague season. There was no activity in the Barcelona pavilion, rather a day of reflection and rest (physical and mental) for the players after playing seven games in two weeks.
Where the activity does not stop is in the offices, where there is still a certain calm despite the fact that the new and exciting basketball project is not quite coming together. Confidence in Roger Grimau, both on the part of Juan Carlos Navarro, manager of the section, and the board, remains intact and no one wants to rush. “Grades, at the end of the course,” is the repeated motto. What is translated means that what happens in the playoffs of the Endesa League will determine the future of the Barça bench and a few players.
Barça already knows that, if they are able to overcome the first round, everything indicates that they will have to play in the semi-finals of the League and, if applicable, the final, with the court factor against them, a scenario that further complicates the final stretch and in front of which no one wants to lift a finger before seeing how Grimau’s team reacts after the disappointment against Olympiacos.
The series against the Greeks has confirmed the irregularity that the Barça team has been showing all season, capable of the best and the worst. In a critical situation, Barça showed all their character in the third game to conquer Piraeus but, two days later, they threw everything overboard, succumbing in the worst of ways and, who knows, laying the foundations for their elimination in the fifth game.
These lights and shadows extend to both the bench and the hardwood. Surely, Grimau’s inexperience has played more than a trick on him during the course but the players have always been comfortable with his style, which is less invasive than that of his predecessor, Saras Jasikevicius. Although the technician still has moles to eradicate. Jabari Parker, for example, has greatly improved his performance but is still a free verse compared to the rest of his colleagues. The arrival of Ricky Rubio forced Grimau to alter his rotation but El Masnou’s still does not have the expected weight. Whether that is a merit or demerit of the player or the coach is an unsolvable mystery. There are less important cases, but equally striking, such as those of Joel Parra, for whom the club spent a million euros in the summer and who is left out of the calls for important matches day in and day out, or that of Darío Brizuela, one of the most disruptive players on the squad, who was left without playing on Wednesday.
Looking up, Navarro’s figure was also touched by the European elimination. The team bears his signature and if the League does not sharpen the shot, literally and metaphorically, eyes will also be directed towards him.
The Palau’s woes end there. Those from Barça go much further. Sand from another story.