Barça needed all its champion character and the talent of its stars to meet Real Madrid in the Endesa League final. He did it after liquidating Joventut in a tense and vibrant fourth game until the last second. Defeat is never a dish of good taste, but Badalona’s applause for his team at the end of the duel confirmed that he lost with honor. But a huge Mirotic, seconded by his two best friends, Higgins and Calathes, mercilessly pointed the way to the final
It was an electric derby from the start, with endless energy in the stands and the tension on the court of those who are fans, even though the players’ wrists weren’t there. Joventut was applied with enormous intensity in defense, a scenario that does not usually sit too well with this Barça, as Bayern showed recently, for example. The azulgrana responded to the defensive challenge and the emotion was as great as the hunger that passed the scoreboard.
Already from the first quarter, shooting percentages began to leave much to be desired. Barça scored two triples in nine attempts in that initial period and La Penya did not smell a basket in five. The game was played under the hoop and the strongest prevailed in each play. The contacts were continuous, it was a real derby. Welcome.
With equal forces, Barça collapsed in the second act. Bassas’ triples now did go in and Parra and Tomic took over the paint, dyeing the rebound green and black. On the other side of the court, Sanli twisted his ankle, Davies committed his third personal foul and Barça did not score their first points until the sixth minute of the fourth. An almost apocalyptic scenario that Tomic translated into an impressive 27-15 from the free throw (minute 17).
La Penya had disguised itself as a freight train and was destroying everything that dared to get in its way. Conceding the blow, Barça calmed down a bit and was able to go to the locker room with a disadvantage of less than ten points but without leaving the best feelings. His shooting chart was a kind of Poltergeist: 4/18 shooting from two and 2/16 shooting from 3-point range for a total of 6/34 shooting from the field and 19 points at halftime. To cry. Also, for the second consecutive duel, there was no sign of Jokubaitis, who knows why sidelined by Jasikevicius.
The azulgrana showed a little more energy in the second half and in two minutes they signed a 0-6, the same spoils as in the entire second act. Mirotic responded to the boos with points and Barça even managed to get ahead on the scoreboard. Duran reacted quickly and placed Tomic and Birgander, his two towers, together on the track by surprise. The superiority in the painting calmed Penya, who even after the 39-43 that Laprovittola went up already in the last act did she get nervous. There was a lot of derby left.
But with the stars of Barça in champion mode, Joventut was made ball in the final stretch. He responded masterfully when Mirotic made it 46-54 and equalized at 56, but the second Barça attack was already deadly. The classic was served in the final.
60 – Joventut Badalona (14 14 11 21): Feliz (0), Vives (4), Parra (8), Willis (14), Tomic (15) -initial team-, Busquets (0), Paul (0), Ribas (5), Ventura (2), Bassas (7) and Birgander (5).
63 – Barça (13 6 21 23): Calathes (12), Higgins (13), Abrines (0), Mirotic (20), Sanli (4) -initial team-, Davies (5), Martínez (0), Smits (0), Laprovittola (7), Hayes-Davis (2) and Kuric (0).
Referees: Juan Carlos García González, Antonio Conde and Joaquín García. They eliminated the local Parra for five fouls.
Incidents: Fourth game of the Endesa League semifinals played at the Palau Olímpic in Badalona before 10,787 spectators
