Laprovittola and Higgins dynamite the Classic
Barça storms the WiZink Center against a Real Madrid team that they equal at the top of the Endesa League
MADRID, 2 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça won the traditional Christmas Clásico of the Endesa League against Real Madrid at the WiZink Center (78-87), a game on matchday fourteen in which Nico Laprovittola and Cory Higgins guided the Barça side to their fourth consecutive victory before an apathetic white box on the rebound and who has hunted down at the top of the table.
Led by the Argentine point guard (19 points and 6 assists) and the American guard, who contributed 19 points coming off the bench and was vital in the final stretch, Saras Jasikevicius’ men neutralized the ‘double-double’ of Edy Tavares (19 goals and 11 rebounds), who finished the duel as the most valued man (30).
Keeping a cool head at the most critical moments, the Catalan team managed to storm the Madrid coliseum and match their mark in the standings (11-3). “I really believe in this team. To win something big, we need more consistency. It’s the first step, now we want to fight for first place,” said the Lithuanian coach after the duel.
The duel in Calle Goya got off to a dizzying start, with the two contestants signing the highest-scoring first quarter in the history of the Clásicos: 54 points -equaling that of matchday 32 of the 2007-08 season-. The azulgrana team took the initiative in the first minutes, although the whites responded with a 7-0 run that was later replicated by Saras Jasikevicius’ men.
However, the rebounds were the differential factor in the first quarter, with the visitors capturing three offensive attacks against none of the local team, which increased a march when their rival slowed down in the second quarter.
Faced with the success of Tavares -11 points and 4 rebounds in the first half-, the Catalan team knew how to take advantage of their opponent’s mistakes -2 to 12 in points after loss-, and only a ‘tangerine’ on Sergio Llull’s horn undid the tie at halftime at the WiZink Center (44-42).
The defenses took center stage at the restart and Barça relied on their good defensive rebounding numbers (10) to take advantage. With a final partial of 0-10, he was planted with an income of five points in the final quarter (57-62).
Vincent Poirier opened the last set and led the 5-0 lead that allowed Chus Mateo’s men to tie the match (62-62), but a +6 returned control to the Catalans, who dedicated themselves to managing and widening the difference.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: REAL MADRID, 78 – BARÇA, 87 (44-42, at halftime).
–TEAMS.
REAL MADRID: Williams-Goss (5), Musa (14), Deck (8), Yabusele (14) and Tavares (18) –starting five–; Llull (5), Causeur (2), Cornelie (-), Poirier (10), Hezonja (1), Sergio Rodríguez (-) and Abalde (-).
BARÇA: Laprovittola (19), Satoransky (4), Kalinic (9), Mirotic (12) and Vesely (11) –starting five–; Higgins (17), Da Silva (7), Abrines (-), Sanli (7) and Jokubaitis (-).
— PARTIALS: 26-28, 18-14, 13-20 and 21-25.
–REFEREES: Peruga, Cortés and Martínez. No deleted.
–PAVILION: WiZink Center. 11,187 viewers.