El Barcelona will play his third Final Four consecutive after beating the Zalgiri (66-77)sentencing the quarterfinal playoff on the fast track (3-0). It was not the most brilliant meeting of the Barcelonathat after a disastrous first part of both teams, full of losses and errors in the launches, he shot ex officio to direct the pass in the third quarter with a triple hit, with two of Satoransky (14+3+5)three of Tobey (13)and one of you openwith which they left their victory practically wordless (45-61).
those of Jasikevicius they barely accused the pressure of a Zalgiris Arena crowded, whose decibels seemed to weigh more on the Lithuanians, stiff and with unclear ideas in attack. They played more with their hearts than with their heads, but that only served them to make the rubber at some point in the clash, the last one with six minutes to go (55-61). But Barça did not lose their composure and closed the game without stress with two mid-range shots from Vesely (14) and a triple from Abrines (55-68).
Horrifying game start
It was the outcome of a party that in its beginnings was a complete nonsense. He Zalgiri It came out totally breaded and the Barçafrom the hand of a reliable Veselywho arrives at this stage of the season at his best moment, silenced the stands establishing his maximum income (3-13, min 8). The initial streak of the Lithuanians, who went six minutes without scoring, deserves to be in the museum of basketball horrors: 1/14 in field goals with 1/12 t2 and 0/2 triples. It was as if the Barca hoop had a lid on top.
He saw it so easy the Barca who relaxed, was the last four minutes without scoring, lost eight balls and the Zalgiris floated with the assisted breathing of Dimsa and Hayes (10-13, min 10). Lekavicius, Dimsa and Birutis got to put theirs ahead (24-19, min 16) in full existential crisis of the Catalans, who reacted with triples by Abrines and Mirotic and they arrived ahead at rest (24-27, min 20) after having scored only nine baskets in play (6/14 t2 and 3/8 t3). That’s how awful the first part was.
Satoransky and Laprovittola open gap
at the restart both teams improved their performance and the show appreciated it. More defense, but also more success and more offensive variantsespecially by the Barcelona. Satoransky, with eight points and two triples, and Laprovittolawith three free throws they opened the gap (34-43, min 25). Zalgiris did not respond and Barça put the victory on track with a triple from Abrines and three from Tobey (45-61, min 30), closing the quarter with 32 points, his best fourth scorer in the series.
Ulanovas and Birutis led the Lithuanians’ last attempt to avoid elimination in a start with more epic overtones than anything else (55-61, min 34). But again the temperance of Veselywith two shots at midrange, brought calm to a Barça who sentenced with a triple of you open and another of Mirotic (57-71, min 36), already causing the surrender of a Zalgiri well inferior in two of the three games in the series.
Datasheet
66. Zalgiris Kaunas (10+16+22+18): Taylor (6), Brazdeikis (7), Ulanovas (13), Butkevicius (6), Smits (-) -equipo inicial-, Polonara (2), Dimsa (8), Hayes (4), Lekavicius (8) y Birutis (12).
77. Barça (13+16+32+16): Satoransky (14), Laprovittola (3), Abrines (9), Mirotic (9), Vesely (14) -initial team-, Jokubaitis (11), Kalinic (2), Sanli (2), Kuric (-), Tobey (13) and Martinez (-).
Referees: Damir Javor (ESL), Tomislav Hordov (CRO) and Uros Nikolic (SER). No deleted.
Incidences: third game of the Euroleague quarterfinals played at the Zalgirio Arena in Kaunas (Lithuania) in front of some 15,000 spectators.
