Barça saved its first big obstacle of the season and showed its head in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey. Exhausted, of course, Grimau’s team finished facing the enormous challenge posed by Baxi Manresa, capable of pushing its almighty rival to the limit. In a duel of many alternatives, the Blaugrana imposed their greatest experience in the last five minutes, leaving Bages’ men without a prize.
The Catalan derby of this Cup did not lack incentives. Starting with the benches, where master and disciple crossed paths again. Pedro Martínez coached Roger Grimau in Manresa in his last year as a professional player, so a nice cup debut awaited him. Barça and Baxi Manresa had already measured their strength on three occasions this season, the last last Sunday with a Barça victory at the Congost. But history matters little in such an unpredictable tournament and in Carpena the battle was once again exciting.
The surprise factor was scored by Manresa, who started in charge in the first quarter. Three-pointers were easy for Pedro Martínez’s team, who took full advantage of the fact that Barça’s defense was a bit out of balance. A two plus one from Mawugbe stretched it to 9-18 (minute 16) just after Roger Grimau’s first timeout.
The duel had started beautifully in the 4th between Jabari Parker and Devin Robinson, two former NBA players eager to debut in a Cup after hearing all the good things from their teammates. But the Barça player showed more muscle and reactivated his team with 10 points in those first ten minutes, including a triple that started the reaction. Although they fell behind on the scoreboard, Barça was avoiding Pedro Martínez’s traps, handling the ball well and committing only two losses – 22 lost on Sunday.
Parker’s witness was picked up by Willy Hernangómez who decided to take his best morning suit out of the closet to take over the area with overwhelming superiority (8p and 7r at half-time). He rotated and rotated the Manresa between Geben and Steinbergs but there was no way to stop the man from Madrid, who grabbed rebounds on both sides of the court as if they were gifts. Furthermore, Manresa’s three-pointers were scored every time with the rim and Pedro Martínez’s team had a hard time scoring points. Barça did not waste the situation, as they began to take over the scoreboard and bring their rival closer to the canvas. Shortly before the break, a triple by Jokubaitis drew the Barça maximum (50-40).
But Barça didn’t even have time to land when he left the locker room. He blinked and saw himself from behind. Between Robinson and an undetectable Badio they signed a 0-11 partial that put Manresa ahead (54-56, minute 23). Barça was out of the game, with many of its men disconnected. With each play, Satoransky became a little more blurred and Jokubaitis had to come to the rescue at a most delicate moment. The Lithuanian opened the band-aid and Laprovittola finished sticking it to put out the Manresan revolution.
With control of the score, if not the game, the Barça defense began to fail again at the beginning of the last act, in which it took them almost five minutes to commit their first foul. A scenario that Manresa took advantage of, with the board of Pedro Martínez and the direction of Dani Pérez as the flag to increase the heart rate of the culés fans, in a clear minority compared to the massive displacement from Manresa and the local sympathy for the weak. The failures in free throws multiplied on both sides and the scoreboard was not clear where to shoot. A triple by Taylor with 3m42s to go finally set off alarm bells in the Grimau ranks (87-88). A decisive moment in which the presence of players with the experience of Kalinic and Vesely on the court became the perfect solution to find the path to victory for Barça. With his last dunk, Satoransky closed the duel with Barça’s maximum (102-91), making up what was a much more even duel than that.
102. Barça (22 28 24 28): Satoransky (5), Laprovittola (18), Kalinic (2), Parker (19), Vesely (14) -starting five-, Hernangómez (16), Da Silva (8), Jokubaitis (11), Brizuela (4), Abrines (-) and Parra (5).
91. Baxi Manresa (23 20 28 20): Taylor (17), Badio (11), Vaulet (11), Robinson (14), Geben (14) -starting quintet-; Williams (2), Steinbergs (3), Sagnia (-), Mawugbe (7) and Pérez (12).
Referees: Juan Carlos García González, Fernando Calatrava and Carlos Cortés. No eliminated
Incidents: Third match of the quarterfinals of the Copa del Rey in Málaga played at the José María Martín Carpena Pavilion in front of 10,423 spectators.
