Until this Wednesday, winning a fifth game in the Euroleague playoffs was an impossible mission for visiting teams. 19 attempts and 19 local wins. Not anymore. First Fenerbahçe, who attacked Monaco, and then Olympiacos, who destroyed Barça’s European hopes, had a historic day. The Grimau team from the Euroleague is thus dismantled in the cruelest way after a more than remarkable season, in which they barely had the last five minutes of competition left.
An ultra-defensive duel took place at the Palau, a scenario much more favorable for Greek parties than for Barcelona ones, as it turned out. There are no reproaches for the Blaugrana, who emptied themselves and persisted until their strength caught up with them. They were not at all correct but they believed until the end, although they kept the ticket to Berlin in a final stretch of the match in which McKissic undermined his emotions until there was nothing to appeal.
That the game was going to be won from defense was evident from the initial jump, with the score unable to take a bite in the first two minutes of the game. No one was able to find comfortable shots and the few that appeared collided with the hoops. Laprovittola, very active in that first section, opened the count after 2m18s of beautiful battle, adding two triples shortly after to make it 8-2 (m6) that seemed quite a feat given the intensity with which each ball was being fought.
Ricky Rubio, who started this time on the bench, adapted perfectly to what the duel demanded as soon as he stepped onto the hardwood, and added three steals of the ball in just a couple of minutes (5 in total), collaborating in the famine of the light, which signaled an explanatory 12-9 after the first horn.
Between Jabari Parker and Willy Hernangómez they lit up a firecracker to open the second quarter and stretch the score to 18-9, which could truly be considered a good lead. But the game was on a terrain more in line with Bartzokas’ script than Grimau’s, much more cheerful, and no one got nervous on the Greek bench. A superb performance from Milutinov and points from Peters kept Olympiacos very much in the game. Barça couldn’t get the triples, they shot and shot but saw the square ring (2/15 at half-time, 6/23 at the end), with Parker as the greatest exponent. The one from Illinois, who had more than 60% success in the playoffs, missed his seven shots, but a spectacular collective work by the Blaugrana on the offensive rebound allowed them to have second and even third options. The score of 27-25 at halftime foreshadowed curveballs for the second half. The news of Fenerbahçe’s victory came from Monaco, confirming that the possibility of losing fifth at home was already a reality. It was time to work piece-rate and find the right way to be in Berlin.
Barça came out of the locker room strong and a triple by Abrines made it 38-30 which should have given his team peace of mind. On the other hand, from then on the night began to go uphill for the Blaugrana until they could not climb any further. A triple by Papanikolau equalized the forces (40-40) for the first time since 2-2 and left everything open for the last act.
The first advantage for the Greeks was signed by McKissic with a triple (47-49, m35) and everything began to turn red and white. Barça did not seem to have the strength left to turn the situation around and Olympiacos showed no mercy. Papanikolau made it 49-57 at 2m25s and the comeback seemed like a pipe dream, as it was. Laprovittola was able to cut it to 54-57 but, at the same time, lost the decisive ball in a bad way so that a sensational Milutinov underpinned the visitor’s victory.
There will be no more Euroleague for Barça this season. You have five minutes left.
59; Barça (12 15 13 19): Satoransky (2), Laprovittola (17), Kalinic (-), Parker (4), Vesely (6) -starting team-, Hernangómez (9), Rubio (6), Jokubaitis (2 ), Abrines (13) and Da Silva (-).
63; Olympiacos (9 16 15 23): Canaan (6), Walkup (3), Papanikolaou (11), Peters (6), Fall (-) -starting team-, Williams-Goss (8), Milutinov (10), Petrusev (5), McKissic (12), Larentzakis (-) and Wright (2).
Referees: Sreten Radovic (CRO), Damir Javor (ESL) and Uros Nikolic (SER). They called out unsportsmanlike fouls on Hernangómez (min.9) and Petrusev (min.33). They eliminated Parker with five fouls (min.40).
Incidents: fifth game of the Euroleague basketball quarterfinals played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 7,742 spectators, the best entrance of the season.
