Tavares and El Chacho lead Madrid to another final

Like last year, like each of the other two times (2013 and 2014) in which they met before the grand final, Real Madrid beat Barcelona in the semi-finals of the Euroleague. The Blaugrana went from more to less against a white team that knows how to play this game like few others and will face Olimpiakós in tomorrow’s title game (7:00 p.m., Dazn). It will be a repeat of the 2015 final, in which Madrid began a winning run in Europe after losing to the Greeks in 2013.

The beginning of the clash clearly marked the game plan of each of the benches. Madrid, with Tavares recently named the EuroLeague’s best defender for the third time, looked to capitalize on their inner strength, which saw them lead 0-6 until Barcelona started their three-point festival. In the first ten minutes, Blaugrana’s score was limited to outside shotsbut it was very fruitful, taking advantage of concessions in the defense of Williams Goss or Muse and exploiting the talent open, who scored in all three attempts. In total, Jasikevicius’ team made 6 of their 9 shots from the perimeter. In the second quarter with rotations, the tone changed. Kurić and Satoransky they took over from Abrines in the attack, and Nnaji’s defense helped them in a 22-13 run that only a three-pointer by Llula and a basket by Hezonja made it 42-36 with which they reached the break.

In the third set, the dynamic changed radically. Barcelona suffocated on an outside kick that accused Abrines’ forced break for the foul and the complete absence of Nikola Mirotić, who started the fourth quarter without a field goal, despite his six attempts. All efficiency was in the hands of Laprovittola, who started by increasing the lead to 8 points (47-39), before Real Madrid confirmed the set for them 0-15with real name: Walter Tavares. The Cape Verdean put his team on the back on both sides of the field and, with the help of Goss and Musa, managed to bring the score back to 47-54, which was confirmed with a three-pointer by Mario Hezonja, who made a three-pointer. also become an important man. Laprovittola was again in charge in the last minute to bring Barcelona to three points with another shot from the perimeter that left everything open for the fourth quarter.

However, in the last third, the old guard of Real Madrid appeared, with rich experience in those one-game European battles. There was a particular difference chacho rodriguez it tied the score at 58-58 when he took an unsportsmanlike reception, sank two free throws and hit his bomb on the next play. The Canarian point guard was responsible for adding nine points in a row for White, just before another magical assist for Tavares establish a difference of 8 units (61-69) that no longer found an answer in the opponent.

The Blaugrana’s absence was explained by the play of Mirotic, who managed to score only 3 points. Between the fact that Abrines could not be on the court as much as Jasikevicius would have liked and that Tavares (20 points and 15 rebounds) insisted on showing why the only ACB player was included in Europe’s ideal quintet, the triumph of Madrid, who will play their sixth final in ten seasons.

Technical document

BARCELONA (66)

PTS player 2P 3P TL RT AS MJ V

20 Lapro 12 0-4 4-11 0-1 3 3 29 7

21 Opening 16 1-2 4-8 2-2 ​​​​​​​​4 0 18 14

13 Satoranski 7 2-4 1-2 0-0 11 3 30 13

33 Mirotic 3 1-3 0-7 1-2 1 1 28 -2

5 Sanli 0 0-3 0-1 0-0 3 0 16 -7

10 Kalinic 6 0-1 2-2 0-2 2 0 18 6

6 Vesely 4 2-5 0-0 0-2 6 3 13 2

8 Sergi M. 0 0-0 0-1 0-0 1 1 2 1

24 Kurik 11 1-3 3-6 0-0 2 0 24 11

31 Jokubaitis 6 3-5 0-1 0-0 2 3 12 3

46 Nnaji 1 0-0 0-0 1-2 2 1 9 6

TOTAL 66 10-30 14-39 4-11 43 13 200 59

SARAS JASIKEVICIUS (coach)

REAL MADRID (78)

PTS player 2P 3P TL RT AS MJ V

0 Goss 10 2-7 2-2 0-0 1 2 26 5

31 Musa 7 2-6 0-2 3-4 2 2 21 3

8 Hanga 0 0-4 0-2 0-0 6 2 20 2

30 Ndiaye 2 1-1 0-0 0-0 2 2 8 5

22 Tavares 20 7-9 0-0 6-9 15 1 33 39

13 Boy 12 2-5 2-3 2-2 0 5 15 13

11 Hezonja 14 3-6 2-7 2-2 9 0 33 18

1 Cause 0 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 8 -4

3 Randolph 6 3-4 0-1 0-0 2 0 7 5

5 Rudy 2 1-1 0-2 0-0 4 0 17 2

23 Llu 5 0-2 1-2 2-2 0 5 13 6

TOTAL 78 00-00 0-0 0-0 0 0 200 97

CHUS MATEO (coach)

partial: 18-18 / 42-36 / 55-58 / 66-78 /

Fact: Real Madrid has reached the Euroleague finals six times in the last ten seasons. So far, they have won two and lost three.