Euroleague – quarters – day 1
BarçaOlympiacos
Twisted by Olympiacos, a poor Barcelona wasted the prerogative achieved in the regular phase of the Euroleague, the home field advantage in the quarterfinals. The blaugrana, only made up by the cheerful play of Ricky Rubio, did not give one, subdued by the defense and the physicality of the rival.
The general hesitation was noticeable at the beginning, the knowledge that there is no longer a play-off after the tie. Barcelona, with a sprained wrist, didn’t hit the target – five shots in a row without making a shot – and Olympiacos followed in its wake until it took refuge in Fall, balls into the bottle so that its centimeters and hips could break Vesely, six points from a run, governor of the room. Grimau asked for calm from the bench, but the opposite happened on the court, to the point that just over four minutes were counted until his team scored, until Vesely expressed himself from the free throw line. Williams-Goss was also important from the perimeter and when the first basket of the game came from the Blaugrana, Olympiacos had already put the ball in the middle -seven points-, a welcome slap in the face. But Parker, who is governed by other laws, who never knows if he is on the parquet or on his porch in Illinois, didn’t care. He claimed the ball and the role, and that was enough to close the prologue between tight spots (18-19). It didn’t last long.
BARCELONA, 75 – OLYMPIACOS, 77
Barcelona: Satoransky (0), Laprovittola (9), Kalinic (6), Parker (13) and Vesely (3) -starting quintet-; Da Silva (4), Rubio (10), Hernangómez (13), Abrines (11) and Jokubaitis (5).
Olympiakos: Walkup (0), Canaan (14), Peters (1), Sikma (4) y Fall (11) -quinteto inicial-; Williams-Gross (15), Wright (4), Larentzakis (2), Brazdeikis (2), Petrusev (12), Milutinov (3) y McKissic (9).
Partials: 18-19; 17-25; 19-17; 21-16
Referees: D. Javor (Esl), T. Hordov (Cro) and R. Peerandi (East). Eliminated Walkup and Fall.
Palau Blaugrana 7,328 spectators.
Intense and effervescent after the loss, Olympiacos managed to cut the lines of the first pass so that Barça could not define themselves with those hypersonic transitions that they like so much, so that the duel was framed between static attacks. It happened that Willy Hernangómez showed muscle and wrist under the rim while Abrines scored two triples in a row like two suns from the periphery. It was, in any case, an oasis, as the Blaugrana were quick to shoot while Petrusev and Canaan were in the opposing basket with many points in their hands, also with the occasional hesitation towards the crowd that lit up the Palau, as hot in itself after an unsportsmanlike incident involving Vesely, who did not have the night even though it was his 34th birthday. Problems without the ball in their hands and chaos for an Olympiacos that reached the interval with a smile on its face (35-44).
The rest was of no use to Barça either, as they continued to play chloroform basketball, groggy from start to finish, unable to say theirs against an Olympiacos that imposed itself from the defense and found in McKissic and Williams-Goss the springboard to expand the distances. Ricky Rubio tried to argue the opposite, steals and assists, also a triple. But that was not enough, a Barça that was not very Barça, a morrocotudo traffic jam. So much so that they started the last chapter with eight down (54-61). It happened then that the Barça team raised the watts in defense and that Hernangómez became the Hulk under the hoops, an impulse that left the goal in a bracket (58-61), repeated again with a pair of triples from Laprovittola and Ricky (67-69), who continued with the tailcoat on, more steals and more assists, more triples. But when everything seemed to take color, Barça became disorderly again, punished by personal reasons, overwhelmed by the rival’s physique and by Canaan’s wrist, a big club blow to begin with.
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2024-04-24 22:35:12
#Barcelona #tangled #Olympiacos #Basketball #Sports
