FC Barcelona won 64-59 in a real thriller of a King’s Cup final in Granada to lift the trophy of 27and time. It’s the fourth time in five years that the blaugrana have won the competition played in a knockout round by the eight best-placed teams halfway through the ACB regular season.
And for the second year in a row, it was against former rivals Real Madrid, and as expected, it wasn’t easy at all. The Catalans were quite erratic at first, especially in attack, but with MVP Mirotic and Jokubaitis particularly brilliant in the second half, things fell into place when needed.
Coach Saras predicted a low scoring game and he was right. Defensive intensity was the order of the day, but it was Madrid who got off to the best start, taking a 16-point lead at a surprisingly early stage in the proceedings.
Barca were far from their quick goalscoring rate in the first two games at Granada, and took a long time to come up with the kind of ideas they needed to break a Madrid game plan that saw the all-whites come in at the break still in the lead. by double digits. Barça had to change something, and it had to be done quickly.
Stitches inspired by the back
The second half saw Barca continue to base their game on tight defence, and it was finally working. The deficit was reduced to just six and the game resumed. Mirotic and Davies were finding points more easily now, and going into the final period Madrid were right in their sights. Only three points now separated them.
Points were scarce in a cautious and nervous final period, which saw a Laprovittola three finally bring the teams level at 46-46. To draw level was the impetus Barca needed, and with six minutes to go they were leading the game for the very first time.
Jokubaitis put four dots between them. It was six o’clock. After making up for almost the entire game, Barca were now heading for victory.
There was still late drama to come. Madrid have brought the level down to 29 apiece. It could have gone either way. Hearts were beating, but Blaugrana hearts were beating the hardest and they were finally able to celebrate a fabulous win! Force Barca!
MATCH STATISTICS
real Madrid: Abalde (8), Deck (8), Poirier (4), Yabusele (4), Taylor (2), Tavares (5), Hanga (3), Rudy (6), Heurtel (10), Thompkins (3) & lull (6)
Barca: Calathes (4), Laprovittola (5), Exum (2), Mirotic (19), Sanli (9), Davies (10), Kuric (3), Jokubaitis (12), Sergi Martínez (-), Hayes (- ) & Abrins (-)
Periods: 19-5; 10-13 // 16-23; 13-23
Referees: Emilio Perez Pizarro, Antonio Conde and Fernando Calatrava
