BarcelonaBarça beat Real Madrid in the Endesa League classic (75-85). The Barça team pulled out a rival who lost concentration with the referees. The regularity of the Catalan team was more solid than that of a rival who played in bursts. Kyle Kuric (17 points) and Sertac Sanli (17) were the top scorers for the visitors.
Sarunas Jasikevicius’s Nikola Mirotic was shown a yellow card for standing over the ball and blocking an opponent’s quick free kick after 80 minutes. A triple by the Montenegrin 20.5 seconds from the end served to sentence a match in which Barça had the casualties of Dante Exum, due to a technical decision, and Àlex Abrines and Pierre Oriola, due to injury. “It’s not easy for Mirotic and Laprovittola to play here and they have been very solid and focused. We played very well and broke the game, but then we lost our heads. We have to be happy because winning here is always difficult and we didn’t get there. in great shape, “said the Lithuanian coach.
Pablo Laso, on the other hand, had Rudy Fernández and Edy Tavares. In addition, the Basque coach made Gabriel Deck his debut in the Endesa League. With the arrival of the Argentine winger, Real Madrid once again has a very competitive team that aspires to this whole season. Its depth of bench is very large and its interior play, very powerful.
Barça took advantage of Kyle Kuric’s goal to set the pace for the first minutes of the classic (10-15), but Real Madrid managed to react to turn the score around with a 9-0 run (19-15). Edy Tavares conditioned the game with his intimidation and his usual offensive forcefulness. The local difference grew to six points at the end of the first quarter (24-18).
Brandon Davies scored 8 points in a second period in which Barça followed the game plan set by Jasikevicius. The Barça team never lost face in the game and always kept their concentration against a rival who saw the opponent increase their defensive order to take over the pace and turn the score around again (37-42).
Nico Laprovittola had fun at the start of the third quarter, when he combined baskets, rebounds and assists to give optimism to the game of a Barça that built a difference of 10 points (51-61). Real Madrid, which was entrusted with the comings and goings of Sergi Llull, made them thin to maintain the offensive production of the Catalan team (54-61).
Barça used a 6-15 run to build a 12-point lead seven minutes from time (56-68). The visiting victory seemed to be on track, but Madrid’s defense was able to stop the Catalan team’s offensive production. The Catalan team was more than six minutes without scoring a basket in play. Jasikevicius’s players now seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the ref to blow the final whistle. Distracted by the referees, the locals were unable to complete the comeback and two triples from Mirotic and Kuric served to certify victory.
Tribute to Felipe Reyes
Real Madrid took advantage of the first stop of the match to pay tribute to Felipe Reyes, who last summer put an end to a 17-year career as a professional player. “You are part of my family and I will always carry you in my heart,” the former player said.
