By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona almost completely blew a 17-point lead in the fourth period, against archrival Real Madrid but ultimately held on to prevail 75 – 73 and register its first 2022-23 EuroLeague win.
With seven minutes to play in the Clasico, Barcelona was up 69 – 52 but everything began turning upside down.
Real started chewing bits and pieces of that margin and then Gabriel Deck completely took over with 13 personal points in a 13-2 run over three minutes that put the Blancos close 75 – 73 with 15 seconds remaining.
Nicolas Laprovittola made a bad inbounds pass and then Real regained possession and a chance for victory, almost out of nowhere. Sergio Llull misfired in his winning attempt from downtown and Tomas Satoransky grabbed the rebound while, at the same time, fans in Palau took a big breath of relief.
“It’s definitely something that we have to learn from,” Satoransky said. “I think we were controlling the game, but all of a sudden they were in the game and they scored some easy baskets. We had a couple of turnovers on offense and it was a tight game, and they had the last shot to win the game, so we’re definitely happy with the win, but we have to learn from the ending.”
In his best game since he returned to Europe and Barca, Satoransky had 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Sertac Sanli scored 14 while Jan Vesely added 13 points. The Blaugrana began the match hot leading 24 – 15 and were up 40 – 50 at halftime. They established a double-digit advantage and looked to be in control until Real’s counterattack down the stretch.
Deck finished with 21 points and Petr Cornelie scored 12 for Real. “We tried our best, but we have had an inconsistent day on defense,” Real coach Chus Mateo said. “We tried with all our heart to come back, and we had the last shot to win, and it was unlucky the ending of the game. But we tried our best, we fought until the end, so I’m proud of the guys.”
“It shouldn’t be any other way”
While Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius would probably prefer for his team to take a comfortable win, he appreciate the fact that such a derby became a close clash in crunch time.
“It should not be any other way,” Saras said. “It is two of the best teams in Europe playing. I thought we played excellent basketball for most of the time, but at this level you have to kill… and we were waiting for the end of the game, for the clock to go out. We got ourselves into lots of trouble, at the end it was a very difficult situation. In this part of the season, it is really important to learn, to take the win… but the win is not as important as learning. But I think that we became a better team today.”
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball