Laprovittola releases Barcelona heading to the Final Four in Belgrade

Euroleague

- quarters - day 5That's how it was

Barca

81 72

Finalized

B.Munich

Sarunas Jasikevicius' Barça, runner-up in Europe last season, will return to the Euroleague Final Four for the second consecutive year in search of their great pending conquest.

The Barça team escaped Bayern's oppressive scoreboard in the fifth game of the tie (81-72) and sealed their ticket to Belgrade, where they will face Real Madrid in the semifinals.

The reissue, in the same instance, of the duels of 1996, 2013 and 2014 —the first with a Barça victory and the following two with a Madrid triumph, although neither ended in a title—.

The duel on May 19 at the Stark Arena will be the seventh classic of a course that could bring up to 12, and the great revalidation to verify the hegemony of the growing Barça or the resistance of the Madrid cycle.

Laprovittola (26 points, with 5 of 7 triples) and Mirotic (20 points) broke Bayern's chains in a big way, escaped the German quagmire, and transformed the anguish of the Palau into a Final Four party.

The governor of the regular phase will fight for the title until the end.

Barça will try to revalidate the posters from 2003 and 2010 in Belgrade. Jasikevicius, who during his time as a player linked three titles between 2003 and 2005 —the first with the Barça team and the next two with Maccabi— and then completed his continental poker with Panathinaikos in 2009;

he will contest his third Final Four in six full seasons as coach.

After the mess that took place on Friday in Munich, Barça reached the fifth and final assault between laments and chest blows.

Ruminating on their sins of dispersion and mental fragility.

Paining to see himself on the wire because of his bad head, and appealing to physical toughness to release a

irrepressible.

He expressed it like no one Jasikevicius after being forced into the tiebreaker, changing his usual furious tone for a rueful speech, mixing whip and heartbreak.

“We are the people that we are.

You have to learn... the culprit is not the coach, nor is he the rival, nor the referees... Everyone has to look in the mirror and I hope they feel ashamed, because I feel very ashamed, ”said the Barça coach after the collapse of the Audi Dome.

“I don't know whether to apologize for this team image.

But I am prepared to suffer with them.

I have accepted these ups and downs.

I have been his coach for a year and a half and we are going to fight to the death”, explained Jasikevicius.

And, between self-demand and claustrophobia, Barça launched to compete under maximum pressure.

To impose the logic of the pulse between the first in the regular phase against the eighth in the table (further promoted by the exclusion of the Russian teams).

With the memory of the tiebreaker resolved comfortably a year ago against Zenit, but also with the roadmap full of dilemmas against a leathery Bayern, driven by Trinchieri's intrepid board.

"It's a privilege to get into the shark's mouth," said the Italian coach to start the final duel.

Advance of the courage with which Jaramaz and Hunter transformed the initial 7-2 into a 9-15 shortly after to begin the hammering.

Mirotic and Laprovittola took the oars from Barça, but Bayern's 70% success rate in shots from two in their staging allowed the German team to seize the initiative, without space but firmly.

Opposite, the azulgrana sweated to find fluidity due to the lack of points.

An ordeal that Abrines relieved with his first triple when the culé statistics reflected a 4 of 11 (27-27, m. 16).

Prelude to an exchange of blows from which Bayern came out ahead again thanks to Weiler-Babb's management and points and Lucic's defensive rebounds.

And thanks also to the diligent defense of the German team, which left Barça with 13 points in the second round.

Without allowing a free kick to the locals.

A first half thick again for both teams,

As the minutes passed, Trinchieri added legionnaires to his cause and Jasikevicius, deactivated soldiers.

Until, after the break, Calathes and Laprovittola were in charge of giving several turns of the screw in defense to unleash Mirotic in attack.

The Barça star linked two vigorous baskets that spurred the Palau and served the azulgrana to settle the accounts on the scoreboard.

Immediately afterwards, came the second three-pointer from Abrines to continue airing the Catalans' fears.

And, although Jaramaz and Obst supported Bayern in that stretch with two video library triples, the body language of the locals recovered the determination and success that the appointment demanded.

With Laprovittola leading a resounding 27-12 run in nine minutes.

A Barça storm that broke out with Laprovittola like thunder, lightning and hail.

As creator and finisher.

The Argentine point guard scored 13 points between the 24th and 29th minute, for Bayern's 15 as a whole in that quarter.

And Barça headed down the finish line overlooking Belgrade (60-52, m. 30).

"Madrid awaits you in the semifinals", they threw Mirotic after sealing the pass to the Final Four.

“We are also waiting for them”, replied the Barça leader.

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