The Endesa League playoffs began with two surprises: the victory of a struggling Barcelona on the UCAM Murcia court (68-91), where they had only lost two games this season, and the defeat of Real Madrid, who seem hungover since the Athens Final Four, at the Movistar Arena against La Laguna Tenerife (97-98) after a three-pointer with 4.4 seconds left by Jaime Fernández. Mario Hezonja, on the day he was named League MVP, failed to resolve the last play. The second game of a best-of-three series will be played this Thursday. There is no room for another slip-up. This Wednesday, the first matches of the other two matchups will take place: Valencia-Bilbao (19:00) and Baskonia-Joventut (21:00)
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RMA | 26 | 24 | 25 | 22 | 97 |
| TEN | 21 | 27 | 23 | 27 | 98 |
Barcelona, a team in full transformation, with the coach already leaving and the club thinking more about next season than the current one, showed that it is an opponent never to be underestimated. Xavi Pascual’s team demonstrated this in the first playoff game with a very solid win against UCAM Murcia, who fell at the Palacio de los Deportes (68-91), where they had only lost twice this season. The Blaugrana opened a big gap in the second quarter, led by Darío Brizuela, and did not let Sito Alonso’s team react. Barça can seal the series tomorrow at the Palau.
Sito Alonso went into halftime fuming. UCAM Murcia seemed like a toy in the hands of the reborn Barça. A team that has been one of the sensations of the season was not working against another that has disappointed. As soon as Xavi Pascual introduced new pieces on the board, the Blaugrana took off strongly. Satoransky gauged the temperature of the game, Vesely enriched the group, Clyburn played great defense against DeJulius and, above all, an imperial Darío Brizuela woke up. The player from San Sebastián, more productive than Kevin Punter, dominated the second quarter with 16 points and three assists, and even put Barça 17 points ahead on the scoreboard (27-44).
Barça, very serious, not scared by their opponent’s runs (50-64), continued on their path and just entering the last quarter, again put 20 points between the two teams (52-72). The experience of a great Will Clyburn and Jan Vesely brought calm to the Blaugrana lineup.
“Now we are very eager to give our fans a victory, because we feel terrible about what happened the other day [they lost the last regular season game against Valencia 77-102],” Pascual said after the win. “It was a total block. And when we get blocked, it seems like we don’t even want to play.”
Madrid, who seemed to have reached their peak in recent weeks, fighting for the title in the Euroleague and winning the regular season in the ACB, has entered a maze they don’t know how to get out of and now have six consecutive losses in Spain. The last, the most serious, last night against a Tenerife team that arrived very depleted in Madrid. Txus Vidorreta missed Shermadini more — out due to arrhythmia — and Fran Guerra than Sergio Scariolo missed Tavares, Len, and Garuba. A matter of resources. Madrid signed Turkish Yurtseven and Malian Sissoko and Scariolo ordered to attack the paint insistently. It didn’t matter whether it was looking for their pivots or with the penetrations of Hezonja, Lyles, Feliz, or Deck. Two-thirds of Madrid’s points came from inside play, more than double those scored by the islanders, who also lost the rebound battle. It didn’t matter: Tenerife is one win away from the semifinals.
