Barcelona - Real Madrid
International - Euroleague, Playoffs, Semifinal
The Basketball Expert
In head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius' first two seasons on Barcelona bench, form of his team declined as the season went on. Both times they reached their peak in January and February. When it came time for the Euroleague Final Four, the Catalans would fail. This time, things are going in the opposite direction. Barcelona didn’t shine from the beginning, but they improved significantly. At this moment, they look like early favorites in Kaunas. Key improvement happened in their frontcourt. Jan Vesely started to play the way expected of him when he was signed last summer. Nikola Mirotic is back in his MVP mode, while Nicolas Laprovittola and Tomas Satoransky have a great connection in backcourt. Barcelona will be weakened because Cory Higgins won’t play, but his influence this season was very small. Barcelona's defensive rating (112.1) was the fourth best in the Euroleague, but in fact, they can play better on that side of the floor than anyone else. They shoot an impressive 40.8% for three-points and when the two combine, they look unstoppable. Nikola Kalinic and Alex Abrines provide quality on both sides of the floor, while coach Jasikevicius has several players on the bench who can change game rhythm with good minutes. Some of them are Rokas Jokubaitis, Kyle Kuric and Sertac Sanli.
Many wrote off Real Madrid after two defeats against Partizan in Spain, but they bounced back. With three wins in a row against the legendary Zeljko Obradovic's team, they qualified for the Final Four. Partizan key players were suspended in games number three and four and that worked for Real Madrid, but character and quality of this team should not be ignored. They have the most depth in the entire EuroLeague when they are healthy. However, that won’t be case now. They arrived in Kaunas without two extremely important players. Guerschon Yabusele is suspended and Gabriel Deck is injured. Backup center Vincent Poirier probably won't play either. Without such important three players under the basket, it will be a difficult mission for Real Madrid. Walter Tavares is the player who makes the biggest difference in European basketball, but if he gets into foul trouble, there will be no way for Real Madrid to stop Barcelona. In the series against Partizan, veterans of this club made the difference. Sergio Rodriguez was key man in offense and Rudy Fernandez in defense. Even this season quiet Sergio Llull scored when it was most needed. Nigel Williams-Goss also showed composure with a career basket in game number three. Against Barcelona, it will also be necessary for Dzanan Musa-Mario Hezonja duo to play at the highest possible level.
Everything is possible in one game, and this is especially the case when it comes to "El Classico". Still, it's really hard to imagine Barcelona losing this one. Without Deck, Yabusele and probably Poirier, Real Madrid will be in a subordinate position. There is no way they can defend Mirotic 1v1. Coach Mateo destroyed Partizan with zone defense, but it will be much more difficult against Barcelona. Barcelona is eager to take revenge on its biggest rival for the defeat in the Euroleague semi-finals last year, and they know that they welcome this clash as favorites. They are decorated with exceptional discipline and patience in offense. Real Madrid is completely different. Real Madrid's only chance is to somehow stay close until midway through the fourth quarter. Then, the experience of their veterans could again play a big role. However, that is easier said than done. In this balance of power, it is much more realistic that five minutes before the end of the game, Barcelona leads by a double-digit difference and calmly brings the match to an end.
Pistol Pete
Barcelona searched for a long time, and in the right and key part of the season, they finally found an attacking rhythm, before the start of the F4 Euroleague tournament.
On the eve of the most important match of the season for them so far, against the biggest rival Real Madrid in Kaunas in the semi-finals of the elite European competition, the Catalan giant made a series of impressive results. Against the leaders of the Spanish ACB league Baskonia, the tired team won 91:84 away from home and demonstrated exceptional basketball during the four quarters of the fight.
The team led from the bench by the icon of European basketball, Sarunas Jasikevicius, who also is often criticized as a coach in last two years, lost for the last time on April 9 (against Bilbao Basket in the domestic league 82:80 away). Since then, Barcelona have achieved a streak of as many as 11 victories in all competitions. Of the last eight victories, even seven times the famous team scored at least 85 points. That's how the team built up their self-confidence, believing that this year they will win the third Euroleague title in the club's history.
Against Real Madrid, Barcelona won even 97:82 in the match played on April 16. Before that, Real won the Euroleague match in Madrid, on their home field, in overtime 91:86, in a duel played on January 26. At that time, Barca was in significantly worse shape, but also burdened with personnel problems due to injuries.
Real Madrid, on the other hand, have behind them an emotionally exhausting and dramatic quarter-final series against Partizan, which they managed to turn around. The key reason seems to be the use of zone defense, to which the Belgrade team failed to adapt in three matches in a row. Also, Real counted on greater width in the rotation, that is, a greater number of quality individuals from the bench - which will not be the case against Barcelona.
The results of both teams in the last month suggest that we will see a faster-paced match, with a potentially high number of baskets. The teams achieved the same score of 23-11 in the league part of the season, and after that Barca had a significantly easier job in the quarter-final series against Zalgiris. During the season, they demonstrated significantly better defense and received only 76.3 points on average, even four less per match than Real Madrid.
So far in the Euroleague, Barcelona has an advantage of 17:16 in head-to-head matches, and in their last seven matches in the European elite, Barca have won as many as five times. At the guards positions, Barca has an advantage with more options of top quality, in addition to the fact that they are also significantly younger players (Laprovittola, Higgins, Satoransky) compared to their rivals. In the forward positions, Real lost their advantage, when during the quarter-finals, the exceptional Argentine Gabriel Deck suffered a serious injury. He finished the season, in which he was the second most important player of the Madrid club according to statistical parameters.
It is crucial for Barcelona that the center pair Vesely - Tobey stops the fantastic star of Real Walter Tavares. Previously in the process of recovery, Czech star Jan Vesely is ready for a historic duel according to information from the club. Barca is the favorite and consciously accepts that role, in a match that can also decide the future of coach Jasikevicius on the bench.