The Barça is presented in the Cologne Final Four hungry behind, accumulated during seven years of absence in the great European basketball event, and good dynamics, elements that make him one of the clear contenders to win the title in this Euroleague.
The first place in the regular season (24 wins and 10 losses) is the best endorsement. Jasikevicius’s team has shown itself to be the most regular in a season as strange and complicated as the current one, marked by the pandemic. The Catalans have been able to overcome the temporary absences of key players such as Nikola Mirotic Y Brandon davies, already the longest of Victor Claver, and they have always been competitive. Except for a small bump in the middle of the season, in which they had three defeats, the team has maintained a commendable cruising speed, largely thanks to the power of the team and the little dependence on any specific player. The best thing about this Barça is that when one of its stars has a bad day, other players always appear to pull the car.
The most critical moment came at the quarterfinal crossing, in which the Zenit by Xavi Pascual he was about to win the second game at the Palau and go 0-2. The Barça he knew how to suffer to win that game in extra time and from there he grew to take the series 3-2. “The slap of the Zenith it will help us get where we want ”, he said a few days ago Brandon davies.
Indeed, since that scare, Barça has won every game in Endesa League who has played – carries seven wins in a row– and in the last two, two high-level teams such as the Baskonia (87-74) and the Lenovo Tenerife (72-96).
Barça has not reached the exalted level of February, which allowed them to take the Copa del Rey after easily winning at Real Madrid in the final, but he has recovered a lot of his solidity and seems like a rival that is very difficult to sink your teeth into. “I think the team is stronger now because we went through a very difficult series and we got ahead, the team knew how to suffer and in the fifth game we looked like the team that had won the regular league. Maybe we got to the Final Four better than when we started the series against him Zenith, but this does not mean anything, “he said a few days ago Sarunas Jasikevicius.
The Lithuanian coach is prudent but the Barça fans have, unlike what happened in recent seasons, reasons for hope and enthusiasm.