FCBARCELONA.CAT

20.06.2009 19:19

Consistency throughout the season

Regal Barça showed great consistency during the regular season when they finished second overall. It was the second part of the campaign though that they began to show themselves head and shoulders above their rivals.

Barca finished the regular season with a 26-6 record, two wins behind TAU. The Basque team thus enjoyed home advantage as the regular season champions, though that wasn’t enough to worry Barca who won the title in four games.

Great start

It couldn’t have been a better start for Barca who came into their first game against DKV determined to seek revenge for their pre-season defeat in the Catalan Cup and duly brushed aside their neighbours 95-77.

Barca also managed a series of wins on the road at places which had previously proved very tough to take points from in recent seasons, such as Fuenlabrada, Menorca or Bilbao. It wasn’t until round 7 that they suffered their first defeat, going down unexpectedly to MMT 71-72 at the Palau. Three games later they again lost, this time at the Martin Carpena in Malaga (82-71).

Memorable performances

20th December saw the first big test as Real Madrid came to the Palau and they put on a fantastic show to beat their great rivals 87-67, the first of a number of wins over Joan Plaza’s team this year. There was more to come as they scored their biggest win 98.57 against CB Murcia in round 19.

Round 27 offered one of the ACB’s all time greatest games when Ricoh Manresa just edged Barca out 122-117 after four extra periods and some of the most spectacular basketball seen in the competition. At the end of the regular season, in addition to the team’s second spot, Fran Vazquez was voted the player of the tournament.

Pamesa and Unicaja rivals in play-offs

Pamesa València, trained by ex-TAU coach Neven Spahija, were Barca’s first opponents in the play offs. After a shaky first game which they only just scraped through at the Palau (68-66), Barca put on a much improved performance in Valencia – falling just one short of the record 15 three pointers in a single game – and booked their place in the semis with a clear 55-81 win.

It was always going to be a tougher affair against the ex-Barca coach Aíto García Reneses Unicaja team though, whose physical style made them very difficult opponents. The series went to three games with Barca taking the first match 70-62, as much due to a poor performance from Unicaja as a great one from Barca, whilst the return in Malaga saw the locals take advantage of their home crowd’s support to win 82.75 and force the third game at the Palau

But Barca also have their great home support and they took complete advantage of the home court to win by 8 clear points – 86-78, in another hard won game that saw them through to their third ACB final in a row.