Barça are shielding themselves at the Palau to extend their lead
Those of ‘Saras’ look for the 2-0 before traveling to the Olympic one of Badalona
BARCELONA, 4 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça hosts Joventut this Sunday (12:30/#Vamos) in the second duel of the Endesa League ‘Playoff’ series, a pulse in favor of the azulgranas, who hope to remain intractable at the Palau, by winning the first confrontation and lead the series 1-0, to put on track the pass to the final.
Those led by Sarunas Jasikevicius, named Best Coach of the 2021-22 Regular Phase, took advantage of home court advantage in their first win (89-72) with a choral performance led by Sertac Sanli. The Turkish center, who returned to the paint after missing the last game due to a blow to the head, had one of his best nights in the ‘Blaugrana’ shirt, scoring 16 points, including four out of four from three-pointers.
The ‘Penya’ returned to dispute a ‘semis’ crossover 14 years later, although they ran out of options to win the first duel between the second and the third quarter. The initial work piled up for him, sweating to score and prevent the defending champion’s attacks, and this Sunday he will try to recover the success to avoid a dangerous 2-0.
The solvency in defense and the effectiveness of the ‘culé’ squad were the key to the first game at the Palau. Therefore, those of ‘Saras’ did not have the need to depend on the stars. As a symptom of the choral performance, Nikola Mirotic scored 11 points, while Calathes and Laprovittola three each.
Joventut suffered with the connection between Davies and Roland Smits, a fighter in the low post and without an antidote to stop him from Joventut. Both were a sure thing and managed to maintain defensive intensity under the boards. Thus, the azulgranas commanded in the paint and blocked a ‘Penya’ forced to try forced shots.
All in all, Carles Duran’s men will seek to match Barça’s intensity to equalize the series before playing at the Olímpic. To do so, they must dominate the rebound and the three-point line, the weak points in their first game that saw Vladimir Brodziansky go down. As a consequence, the coach opted for Brandon Paul, without minutes in the rotation lately, instead of Ferran Bassas.
The ‘Penya’ will finalize their options to squeeze those of ‘Saras’, who hope to get half a ticket to the final at the Palau before playing the tie at the Olímpic de Badalona, where the ‘black and green’ already beat the azulgranas last year past in the ‘P
quarterfinal playoff.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
BARÇA: Calathes, Laprovittola, Exum, Mirotic and Davies –possible starting quintet–; Martinez, Smits, Oriola, Sanli, Higgins, Kuric, Jokubaitis.
JOVENTUT: Ribas, Feliz, Parra, Willis and Tomic –possible starting quintet–; Busquets, Paul, Ventura, Vives, Bassas, Birgander, Maronka.
–PAVILLION: Palau Blaugrana.
–TIME: 12.30/#Let’s go.