Lucas Sáez-Bravo

Updated Sunday, April 7, 2024-20:45

  • Classification This is the Endesa League

Unicaja is the new leader of the Endesa League, at this point, a terrible merit. That is the conclusion of the sixth classic of the season, in which Barcelona felt powerful and Real Madrid unrecognizable. A change in symptoms that has a lot to do (or everything) with the appearance of

Ricky Rubio, increasingly full

. His mettle, his mastery of rhythm and his experience marked the afternoon at the Palau. Then, in the resolution, there were

Vesely

(with the two white rooks expelled for fouls) and the magic of

Laprovittola

. [85-79: Narration and statistics]

Barça won from start to finish, confident, aggressive, successful at times and always with a cool head. Able to hit from the start and withstand the attacks of Madrid, who tried to rebel in the second half, but it was "rowing" too much in a hostile environment. Once again at the Palau, Barça wins (as in the previous Euroleague), more of a moral triumph than anything else, because the moment of truth of the season is approaching and because it snatches a precious asset from its direct rival. Nothing less than the leadership it had had since matchday 1. Equal with Unicaja (which came back from Manresa in the morning), but with a better basket average for the historic team from Malaga, who depend on themselves to finish there.

"The way we have gone out is simply disgraceful, we have to make them look at it."

Llull

's phrase

, still out of breath, forceful like a punch to the chin, summed up Real Madrid's first 15 minutes at the Palau better than anything. These self-criticisms have been repeated lately in whites and that is not a good sign. Barça had surpassed him like almost no one this season (they managed to lead by 21, 38-17) and only a small reaction before going through the locker room left

Chus Mateo

's team alive .

Barça was a pitbull. Its dawn, like a revenge full of rage for what happened in the last classic, the cup final. The shake-up was even more evident when Ricky Rubio entered the court with eight points in two minutes and together with Laprovittola they hit a stunned Madrid again and again, which conceded a 24-2 run.

Roger Grimau

's men did not allow

even a simple basket and, in the other ring, they hammered with their success from the perimeter (they scored their first six triples without a mistake).

In such a crisis, the captain's courage had to come to the rescue. Llull woke up the whites before the break with two triples. Then, a horrible

Satoransky

and the emergence of

Deck

(remembering his version from a long time ago) signed a 2-14 run that was oxygen for Madrid. It was Ricky, on the court again, who with three rogue free throws brought some order.

Those minutes, so often key and that so many teams despise, before and after the break, were going to be a relief for Madrid. Because upon the return it was already another and also the Classic, which was raising its temperature as it could not be otherwise. Barça no longer found a friend in the triple and had momentarily lost

Kalinic

due to fouls. And Madrid, with

Campazzo

at the helm, was comfortable in the comeback (they got within three, 57-54), although they also saw

Tavares

, penalized for a clear block on

Willy

(again very gray, although he later arranged), he went to the bank with four people.

The classic was already details. And Madrid was on the edge (64-63) when its rival took three minutes to score the first basket of the final act. A starting over. But then Ricky had the reins and Madrid saw how everything was going to be bad news. The fifth of Tavares, the emergence of Vesely (which usually does so much damage), a technique to the deranged

Poirier

who shortly after also left the court and the shot of Laprovittola, with the final five points (for a total of 25), with that unique class that the Argentine has, to close the party.