Barcelona, Jun 2 (EFE) .- Barça will try this Thursday (10pm), in Badalona, to add its second win in the quarter-final play-off of the Endesa League and settle the series with the 2 -0 so he could take a break after his fourth game in seven days.
The Catalans quickly forgot their European disappointment in the first game against Joventut (84-74) from a great defense in the second half and the dominance under the boards of Pau Gasol (14 points) and Nikola Mirotic (11 points). Leandro Bolmaro put the excellence with 16 points.
La Penya, however, lacked continuity after the break and believed that he could give the bell after winning by five points, in a second quarter in which he blocked the Catalans in attack, conceding only 12 points with great defensive intensity .
It was the third victory of the season for Barça against the green and black, who were only able to match the intensity of the Barça game at specific moments with Ante Tomic, Vladimir Brodziansky and Nenad Dimitrijevic as the main offensive referents.
Joventut, however, know that this will not be enough to force the third game, which would be on Saturday (6.30 pm) at the Palau Blaugrana, and will try to surprise Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team from the defense and finish the season, in case of defeat, with the best taste in your mouth.
Barça knows that in Badalona some tactical surprise awaits them from the green-black team, as happened in the first game with a zonal defense with their pivots pressing the shots of three.
The Barça solution came from the hand of its interiors. Gasol, Davies, Mirotic and Smits added 43 of the 84 points of their team, while Leandro Bolmaro, with 16 points and 7 of 9 in shots from the field, was the outside reference along with Cory Higgins.
Barça already solved with a solvent 2-0 the last two qualifying rounds that faced them against Joventut and in both cases they did it without problems. In the 2018-2019 season he won 87-61 and 107-86, and in the 2014-2015 he did so by 77-55 and 80-74.
Victory at the Olímpic would have a double prize: qualification for the semifinals, which will begin next Monday, and a well-deserved rest to regain strength.
(c) EFE Agency