Mirotic makes it 2-0 for Barcelona in the ACB final against Real Madrid (86-85)

Nikola Mirotic has assured that he wants to leave Barça in a big way and this Sunday, in what could be his last game at the Palau Blaugrana, he was big to lead Barca’s triumph, in the last quarter of the second leg of the Champions League. in the final of the Endesa League against Real Madrid (86-85).

With 25 points and a display of leadership when his team’s legs were shaking, surpassed by the courage of Real Madrid who did not stop fighting and turned the score led by Sergio Llull (15 points, 12 in the last quarter), the wing helped to go 2-0 in the series, which will travel to the WiZink Center.

From the outset, the culé plan worked by forcing Tavares out of position and punishing him with Vesely’s shot as Real Madrid tried to impose their size near the basket. However, Barça multiplied in defense to cut the path to the low poster and stood out with two three-pointers by Laprovittola (10-6, min.5).

Mateo had to book Tavares and Yabusele, both with two fouls, but the entry of the second unit favored the white team. With six points in a row, Poirier hurt Jasikevicius’ team in the zone, which kept the scoring rhythm at the end of the first quarter (20-19) without showing a strong deficit.

The game lost momentum as defenses gained weight. Madrid’s zonal network, more aggressive on the ball, blocked the stumbling Barça, while in the opposite circle the talent of Hezonja in the ‘4’, with 12 points in the fourth quarter, was unstoppable (27-32, min. fifteen).

The trio of Croats from almost the central circle woke up Barça, who turned the scenario around with defensive and interior baskets, with 18 points from Mirotic and Vesely. The Czech eliminated the fourth with a three-pointer at the buzzer, an action so inappropriate that he even celebrated it by imitating Kurić’s streak (45-41).

Mateo brought back Yabusele and Tavares after the break to rectify that. Although the difficulty of the internal play of the whites soon brought Barça into the bonus, the Catalan team gave more speed to the attack and took off with seven points from Mirotic and a three-pointer from Jokubaitis (57-48, min.25).

All told, Tavares’ power spurred a 2-10 run that cut off Barca’s run and left the game wide open in the final quarter (68-65). The match was close to the wire, characterized by defenses and difficulties in scoring, when Llull took seven points out of the hat (72-77, min.37).

Doubts entered Barça. Mirotic appeared in them, with a three-pointer and a steal that Laprovittola converted into a basket for 79-80 at 1:30. The duel entered the field of the epic.

Llull and Sanli exchanged three points; Mirotic, Llull and Laprovittola hit free throws for 86-85 with six seconds left. In the last possession, Llull looked for a shortened shot, which was forced by the defenses of Mirotic and Satoransky, but missed the frame (86-85). Barça will be champions if they win on Tuesday in Madrid.

— Data sheet

86 – Barcelona (20+25+23+18): Satoransky (4), Laprovittola (10), Abrines (2), Mirotic (25), Vesely (18) -first team-, Da Silva (2), Sanli (5), Kalinić (10), Kurić (-), Jokubaitis (10) and Nnaji (-).

85 – Real Madrid (19+22+24+20): Williams-Goss (5), Hanga (2), Musa (2), Yabusele (9), Tavares (13) -starting team-, Causeur (3), Rudy Fernández (-), Hezonja (18), Sergio Rodríguez ( 7), Poirier (11) and Llull (15).

Judges: Antonio Conde, Emilio Pérez Pizarro and Fernando Calatrava. They awarded a technical foul to the visiting coach Chuso Mateo (min. 18) and the visiting bench (min. 34). With five fouls (min.40) they eliminated the home team Abrines.

Incidents: the second leg of the Endesa League final was played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona in front of 7,406 spectators.