Liga Endesa ACB
- final - matchday 4That's how it was
real Madrid
81 74
Finalized
Barca
Real Madrid is once again king of Spanish basketball.
There is no greater mistake than giving up the great champions for dead, and this year, many did not enter Madrid in the pools at the end of the season.
But this team forged in the bowels of Tartarus does not understand the impossible, and this Sunday it has concluded its latest feat with the conquest of the ACB title, the 36th in the club's history, against Barcelona (81-74), in game four at the Wizink Center.
One last catharsis on the Madrid pitch, with the public carrying the team in the wings and contributing that point of energy that has allowed the players to beat Barcelona in the last two games of the series.
Jasikevicius's men had dominated the regular season with an iron fist, and after being eliminated in the semifinals of the Euroleague at the hands of the white team, a wide series, with home court advantage, seemed like the perfect option to continue extending their reign one more year.
But the reality has been that the azulgrana arrived at this stage of the season with the tank in reserve and their rival, although less talented, has surpassed them with a physical display.
That's how it was in the first game at the Palau, in the second the forces were balanced, but when the final arrived in Madrid, there was no color.
From the first quarter it was clear that Barcelona continued to suffer from the same problems, unable to counteract the power of Madrid in the paint.
That's how the game began, with the Whites throwing themselves into the first few minutes in which there was no one to take a rebound from Tavares.
In the blink of an eye they got a 9-2 run, and Barcelona showed no signs of reaction.
Jokubaitis tried to pull the team based on shots from three, the only Barça alternative against the Whites' superiority inside.
But without the possibility of catching an offensive rebound, scoring options are reduced, and thus Barça finished the first quarter with only 10 points in their locker, no offensive rebounds and four turnovers.
Madrid, on the other hand, had caught 8 of their 14 rebounds in the opposite basket,
Veterans Sergio Llull and Rudy Fernández tried to blow it up in the second quarter, starring in a run that almost took Barcelona ahead.
In two minutes, Rudy scored two free throws and a triple, and Llull scored another three-pointer and added a 2+1 after a trademark circus shot to put Madrid up 14 (24-10).
Jasikevicius rearmed the attack, brought in Kuric and Exum, and pointed out that the formula to return to the game was to continue shooting from three.
Madrid suffered a downturn in its specialty, the offensive rebound, and let Barça go up to the beard based on triples.
Calathes and Exum, with two in a row in the last minute, sowed doubts at the Wizink Center just before the break.
Barcelona had managed to overcome the disadvantage and the final was at 34-33.
In the storm, Madrid clung to its mast, Edy Tavares, who was on his way to signing a historic game (25 points and 13 rebounds).
His teammates began to look for him insistently, aware of the Cape Verdean's superiority in the paint, and Madrid began to take off with the dunks and rebounds of their center (four in the third quarter), so intimidating that he was able to avoid the basket in a three against one against Calathes, Davies and Kuric.
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Barça was still subject to triples, whose percentages (10 of 16 so far) kept them alive, with Mirotic and Calathes especially inspired (two of three each).
In the last seconds of the quarter, with a basket from the Greek and a good transition action culminated by Higgins, Barça managed to take the lead for the first time in the match (55-56), but Poirier took an unsportsmanlike foul on Calathes and returned to Madrid at +1.
The last act began with both teams shaken by fear, with several failures in clear baskets.
Calathes scored the first ball of the quarter, but Madrid quickly responded with a three-pointer from Hanga that raised the fans, somewhat subdued after the Barça comeback attempt.
In this war of inaccuracies, with very low shooting percentages, the Whites proved to be experts in undermining their rivals, capturing all the rebounds and with a suffocating defense.
The percentage of three of Barcelona was humanized, with four consecutive failures.
Tavares was still unstoppable and Causeur orbited around him punishing any gap.
A layup from the Frenchman made it 69-61, the maximum advantage in the second half, and Tavares extended the partial with a 2+1, to shouts of MVP from the Palacio de los Deportes.
Two minutes from the end, Exum sowed doubts again with a triple, but was answered with another 2+1 from Causeur, who sealed the final with a triple at 1.13 to go and 79-70 in the final. marker.
There was no time for miracles in the Barça team.
Madrid had devoured the final, Barcelona, and all those who at some point had doubted them.
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