In less than a week the Barça it can throw away all a season’s work. The Barça team has played in Badalona one of its worst games of the course to justly lose 72-63 against him. Joventut and get within a victory of elimination in the Endesa League. In a round with as much risk as the ACB quarterfinals, Barça is playing with fire and will need to recover its best version this Saturday (6:30 pm) at the Palau so as not to see how its campaign ends early and with a note very different from what was anticipated just a few days ago.
The Barça of Jasikevicius He has built his hallmarks on defense, which has given him victory in a large number of games this season. But defense alone is not enough if you do not accompany it with a minimally decent attack. The Catalans have been at their level behind but have shown serious problems in attack. The absence of the injured Nick calathes it has left Barça without its main offensive engine and the team has found no alternatives. Neither Hanga, unknown after his bench in Cologne, nor Bolmaro, who is capable of scoring (12 points) but has serious problems getting his teammates to play. One detail: Barça finished at the Olímpic with 12 assists, a figure that Calathes has achieved by himself in a game this season.
Apart from his problems in the direction and, consequently, in his attack, in Badalona at Barça He lacked character and concentration (12/23 free throws). The Barça team started the game as if they thought that after their victory in the first game (84-74). the road to the semi-finals was a downhill climb and his own inertia would lead him to his destination. The Catalans hoped that the match would come to them and, on the contrary, the Joventut has gone looking for it. Much more intense and active than their rival, the green-black team made it clear very quickly that they had perfectly assimilated the coach’s message Carles duran, who asked them for a change of mentality and energy compared to the first game to be able to have options in this second.
In the blink of an eye the Joventut has put 15 points up (20-5) against a Barça that did not know where the blows were falling. Dominating the triple and the rebound, the locals were bringing out the colors of a Barça that had not appeared in the fight.
Leandro had to go out on the track Bolmaro for Barça to play with some aggressiveness in attack and begin to change the face of the game (21-13). The Barça defense has done the rest to come out in the second quarter of the hole in which those of Jasikevicius they had gotten into the first one. If the Penya He had escaped with a partial start of 20-5, Barça has returned to the game with another equal cas, 5-19 (25-24).
But Barça, weighed down by his problems in attack, he has never taken the initiative. The Joventut has stretched somewhat in the final stretch of the first half to go to rest 4 up (31-27) and has managed to respond when Barça has drawn after the first two baskets of the restart (31-31). A pair of triples from an immense Bassas have taken off again at the Penya (49-39) and from there until the end, Barça has been wanting and not being able to.
Higgins He has tried in the end but has been too lonely. Without Calathes, to Mirotic already Davies It is as if they were missing a leg and if we add to this the poor exterior aim (5/21 triples), the errors in free throws (12/23), the 16 turnovers and the rival’s much higher hunger, it is easy to understand because the Barça He now has a life or death match before him this Saturday to prevent the season from ending as a huge disappointment.
Data sheet
72. Joventut Badalona (23 + 8 + 18 + 23): Bassas (20), Ribas (12), Parra (-), Morgan (6), Tomic (6) -starting team-, Dimitrijevic (10), López- Arostegui (2), Brodziansky (8), Ventura (4) and Birgander (4).
63. Barça (13 + 14 + 17 + 19): Hanga (1), Higgins (13), Claver (-), Mirotic (11), Davies (11) -starting team-, Bolmaro (12), Smits (5 ), Gasol (5), Abrines (-) and Kuric (5).
Referees: García, Bultó and Olivares. They eliminated Ante Tomic (min. 37), Brandon Davies (min. 38), Kyle Kuric (min. 40) for five fouls
Incidents: second game of the Endesa League quarter-final play-off played at the Palau Olímpic in front of about 1,000 fans.