Mirotic and a ‘curse’ that must end in Kaunas

The Barca star faces his sixth assault on the Final Four of a Euroleague that continues to resist him

‘Niko’ has played the key weekend three times without success with Madrid and the last two with Barça

After his desire to become a footballer in his native Podgorica did not materialize in his childhood, It didn’t take long for Nikola Mirotic to be picked up by Real Madrid’s scouts, whose lower categories he entered in 2005 with only 14 years when I hadn’t even been playing basketball for two.

in the white club he was taking giant steps forward until in the 2008-09 season he went to the affiliate of LEB Bronze and even trained several times with the first team until on March 15 Joan Plaza made him debut.

Already with Spanish nationality and after a season on loan in Palencia (LEB Oro), the Barça player played for Madrid from 2010 to 2014 and in those four years he suffered his first three troubles in the Final Four of a Euroleague that he continues to resist in a losing streak that he hopes to break this weekend in Kaunas.

With 20 years, ‘Niko’ was one of the sensations of the tournament (2010-11) in which the whites were second in Group B (6-4), first in Group G of the TOP-16 (5-1) and eliminated Valencia Basket in the quarterfinals 3-2, with 65-58 in the fifth match and seven points from Podgorica.

In the Final Four held at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, ​​in 2011 Madrid suffered a huge bump when they fell in the semifinals against Maccabi in an exhibition of future Barca player Chuck Eidson with 19 points and +33 (82-63) and no points from Niko. In addition, he repeated KO in the consolation final against Montepaschi Siena (62-80) with six points, six rebounds and +12 from the Spanish international at 20 years of age.

After a season of absence (2011-12) in which Madrid crashed into Group F of the TOP-16 after Siena and Bilbao Basket, Mirotic returned to the Final Four in 2013 after notably collaborating to the first white place in Group A (7-3), to the second in Group E of the second phase (10-4) and to the 3-0 in the quarterfinals against Maccabi.

At the O2 Arena in London, Pablo Laso’s team eliminated Xavi Pascual’s Barça in the semifinals (67-74) with six points and three rebounds from Mirotic to fall two days later in the grand final 100-88 against Olympiacos the genius Spanoulis (22 points), with seven points and three rebounds from the Barcelona star.

Three quarters of the same thing happened in the following course. Madrid won its ten games in Group A, was second after CSKA in the F of the TOP-16 (11-3) and knocked out Olympiacos 3-1 in the quarterfinals (83-69 in the fifth with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists and +18 from a Mirotic already erected in reference with 23 years).

In the Final Four in Milan, the Madrid team wiped out Barça in the semifinals on one of the saddest nights for Barcelona fans in the recent era (62-100) with 19 points (he only missed three shots), four rebounds, eight Free kicks received and +27 from a huge ‘Niko’. However, the Balkan could not avoid another KO in the final, by 86-98 against Maccabi despite the 12 points and seven rebounds of the Spanish-Montenegrin. That day the executioner was a point guard who would later play for Barça, the wayward Tyrese Rice (26 points and +27).

‘Niko’ made the leap to the NBA that summer and spent five years there spread across Chicago Bulls (2014-18), New Orleans Pelicans (2018-19) and Milwaukee Bucks (2019). “I was tired of not fighting for titles. There is only one tournament there and there is only one champion. I want to win everything with Barça, especially the Euroleague”, he repeated after becoming the Barca star signing by former president Josep Maria Bartomeu and of the former technical secretary Nacho Rodríguez.

In his first season at Barça (2019-20), Nikola Mirotic shone like no one else at the Palau since Pete Mickeal, Juan Carlos Navarro or Dejan Bodiroga. Under the command of Svetislav Pesic, the team was third in the regular season (22-6) and offered excellent sensations, but the covid took everything and the Euroleague decided to cancel the season.

In 2020 Sarunas Jasikevicius came to the bench to get three rankings in a row for the first time in the club’s history in a newcomer. In the 2020-21 campaign, Barça was first in the regular season (24-10) and had to suffer in the quarterfinals against Zenit (3-2) with 79-53 in the fifth game and 7+3 from the Balkan.

In the Final Four, the ’33’ suffered his third defeat in a Euroleague final after marveling in the semifinals against Olimpia Milano (84-82) with 21 points, six rebounds and +28. However, on the key day, Barça lost to Sertaç Sanli’s Anadolu 81-86 despite the 11 points (1/5 on three-pointers) and nine rebounds from the Barcelona benchmark.

Last season the blaugranas repeated first place (21-7) in a regular league in which the Russians CSKA, Zenit and UNICS were excluded in the middle of the course to suffer again in the quarterfinals against Bayern (3-2) with 81-72 in the fifth game and 20 points, five rebounds and +26 from ‘Niko ‘.

Y At the Belgrade event, Barça succumbed in a very intense semifinal classic (83-86) despite the chair of a huge Mirotic with 26 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and +39. In the consolation final he contributed 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and +27 in the bitter 84-74 victory against Olympiacos. Now is the time to settle this pending account.