The Barça has recovered its best version. Two days after successfully overcoming his most difficult moment of the season by defeating the Joventut in a match in which he looked into the abyss, the team of Sarunas Jasikevicius has passed over the Lenovo Tenerife in the first round of their semifinal series to place themselves one step away from the final of the Endesa League. And he did so thanks to an almost perfect third quarter, in which the Catalans scored 40 points against an opponent unable to stop the barrage of blows that was falling from everywhere.
It’s about the best scoring in a quarter in all playoff history, surpassing the 38 points that Bilbao scored in a match against Baskonia in the 2008-09 season. Globally, it has equaled the third highest scoring period in the history of the Endesa League (Baskonia 2016-17) and ranks as the fifth with the most points in history.
The semifinal of ACB Barça-Lenovo Tenerife in pictures
Up to twelve shots in a row, including seven triples, has scored the Barça upon returning from the dressing room, which has allowed him to turn 43-36 of the break into an unappealable 83-51 with 52 seconds left in the third quarter. The Lenovo, who led the score in the 18th minute (32-33), has seen his hopes of surprising the Palau vanish with a spectacular 51-18 run in just over eleven minutes between the second and the third period.
The semifinal of ACB Barça-Lenovo Tenerife in pictures
The Barça the meeting had started well, with Nick calathes setting the pace and scoring the team’s first points. The defense worked as usual, the ball circulated judiciously and excessive balls were not lost, the usual Achilles heel of the team. However, the poor aim in the triples prevented him from opening a gap and gave life to the Canarian team, which maintained its balance at the end of the first quarter (18-18) and even took two minutes before the break (32-33).
The Barça, who had only scored one of his first ten triples, began to convert the open shots that until then he was missing and that was the end of the game. The next series of ten triples saw eight hits from the Catalans, who took some advantage before the break (43-36) and escaped with a 13-2 exit when they returned from the changing rooms that left the team very touched. Lenovo (56-38).
The Barça I had clicked and all the doubts of the past week suddenly seemed a thing of the distant past. With the wind in favor, the team of Jasikevicius He headed for one of his most resounding and brilliant victories this season. It didn’t even matter that the one who always is, Cory Higgins, this time will tiptoe through the game (2 points). Nikola Mirotic he did act this time as a leader, Kyle kuric He was again infallible (13 baskets without failure in the last two games, nine of them triples) Pau Gasol He appeared to be ten years younger and almost everyone ended up joining the party, especially from beyond 6.75 (17 / 3s of 32 attempts at the end).
A party, yes, that will only be complete if this Wednesday the team defeats the Lenovo, this time in Tenerife, to put both feet in the grand final of the Endesa League.
Data sheet
112. Barça (18 + 25 + 40 + 29): Calathes (8), Higgins (2), Abrines (5), Mirotic (21), Davies (8) -starting team-, Westermann (2), Hanga (5 ), Bolmaro (17), Smits (10), Gasol (11), Oriola (2) and Kuric (13)
69. Lenovo Tenerife (18 + 18 + 18 + 15): Fitipaldo (5), Jenkins (6), Cavanaugh (6), Doornekamp (7), Shermadini (8) -starting team-, Yusta (-), Huertas ( 12), Salin (6), Rodríguez (5), Sulejmanovic (-) and Guerra (14).
Referees: García, Calatrava and Caballero. They eliminated Leo Westermann (min. 37) and Roland Smits (min. 40) by five personnel.
Incidents: first match of the Endesa League semifinals played at the Palau Blaugrana in front of about 1,000 spectators.