By Niki Bakouli/ bakouli@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid was perfect… but not perfect ten, something they needed in order to get away with the victory from Palau Blaugrana. At the fourth quarter they messed up everything good they created till then and they watched Juan Carlos Navarro lead Barcelona to a 86-83 win and the absolute home court advantage until the end of the play offs in Liga Endesa.
Real did everything right in offense vs. the league’s best defense and they were off to a great start (15-28, 8.55′) with Ante Tomic leading the scoring. The Croatian center kept going till halftime (42-48) with 13 points and 4 rebounds up to this point. Nikola Mirotic was playing also his best, together with Novica Velickovic. Pete Mickeal (16 points, 5 rebounds) kept Barca into the game with the help of Chuck Eidson (10 points until halftime).
In the third quarter was Real reached its biggest lead (51-62), but after this Juan Carlos Navarro took over the game. He started with one “Bomba” (59-62, 26′) and then he scored 10 points from 63-71 (31.02) to 75-76 (33.09). Eidson gave Barcelona the lead for the first time (77-76) and Fran Vasquez with four straight points made the score 86-83 1,5 minute before the end.
Nobody scored after that, not even Navarro, and Real got the last possession. It proved to be the worst offensive play of the night, with Rodriguez loosing an awfull shot as the clock was winding down to zero.
Barcelona – Real Madrid 86-83
BARCELONA: Sada, Huertas 6, Navarro 23, Vazquez 8, Wallace 3, Ingles, NDong 7, Lorbek 4, Eidson 19, Mickeal 16
REAL MADRID: Tomic 17, Pocius, Suarez 8, Reyes 7, Mirotic 10, Rodriguez 8, Velickovic 11, Begic 2, Carroll 13, Singler 3, Llull 4