It was Barça’s last game before facing Real Madrid in the Euroleague semifinals on Thursday and the azulgranas resolved the match against Baxi Manresa with solvency. They played a discreet first half, one of those that can condemn you to defeat, but they broke loose after the break. Laprovittola was the protagonist, the catalyst, on whom the victory began to be built. And Barça settled it collectively. Manresa, who were playing for their position in the playoffs, lived from the inside game in the first 20 minutes but died drowned in their own mistakes. He lowered a gear, was very unwise from three and missed Francisco and Thomasson. With Moneke and Badio it was not enough.
Despite Barça’s good start (2-9), the Catalans were never able to match Manresa’s intensity. Neither with the starting lineup nor with the refreshment men. Manresa ran and imposed their plan, as they have done for much of the season, with Moneke as the absolute leader. He blocked defense, ran offense and made several 3-point plays. Barça, very uncomfortable on the floor, soon found themselves behind (21-15).
Sima was a headache for Barça’s interiors, who didn’t add up in attack either. The azulgranas were forced to abuse the shot from three with a disastrous balance (2/14) until two almost consecutive triples by Smits calmed the waters. Despite this, he continued to play what Manresa wanted, with Barça in tow, uncomfortable and with few ideas. At the break the score was favorable to the locals (40-33) that left Barça with a poor 33 points. With a point of bad luck in the shot, the azulgranas finished the first half with a 10 of 33 in field goals.
Barça left the locker room with a partial 0-8 that put them ahead on the scoreboard again. More agile and fluid, they hit three. Quite the opposite of Manresa, who continued to be very unwise from the 6’75 line. Laprovittola established himself as the Barça leader in the absence of Calathes, Sanli or Mirotic (heavily charged with fouls) leveling not only the score, but the match. Manresa’s dominance vanished, turning the duel into an exchange of baskets between two teams with a very tight score (51-50). Or, rather, between Manresa and Laprovittola. The Argentine let his hair down, leading Barça to the top of the game (54-63). Barça’s third quarter was very good.
Sanli’s irruption (five points in a row) ended up decanting the match. With a terrible percentage of three, Manresa no longer added inside. Moneke kept trying and Badio scoring, but the absences of Francisco and Thomasson were notorious in the locals. Especially in attack. Barça, six from the end, had already gone on the scoreboard (60-78). The end was a process for the azulgranas.