FCBARCELONA.CAT

12.06.2007 22:40

Double reward for Barça (79-95)

Carles Cascante

Barça have qualified for the ACB League final and at the same time, secured a Euroleague berth for next season. In a stunning display, Dusko Ivanovic’s side destroyed Tau Cerámica and for the latter part of the game the win never looked in doubt.

Barça rose to the occasion once again and put the favourites out of the running for the ACB title. Top seeded Tau Cerámica of Vitoria were devastated by Basile (23 points), Navarro (23 points) and the whole of the Barça team in the deciding game of what has proved to be a cracking best-of-five series. Real Madrid await in the final, after they put out DKV Joventut in another series that went down to the last game.

First period

Winterthur FC Barcelona were unaffected the pressure of playing in front of 9,000 home supporters at the Buesa Arena, and defended brilliantly in the early minutes of the game.

Erdogan and Navarro led their respective teams, with the Turk bagging two consecutive threes and ‘La Bomba' leading the play when the excellent Lakovic started running short on ideas. A Basile triple towards the end of the period left the Basques just one ahead (20-19).

Second period

Barça scored 7 in a row to start the second period, and that caused the nerves to set into the side coached by Bozidar Maljkovic. Working well in offence and defence, Barça gained control of the court, and a call against Luis Scola for unsportsmanlike behaviour set Denis Marconato up to put Winterthur Barça into a six point lead (20-26). Tau reacted with strong defending, and managed to claw their way out of the first hole of the night.

Five minutes from the break, Planinic tied things at 28 each. Kasun and De la Fuente were sent on to solidify things in the Barça defence, and the half ended with scores exchanged and the atmosphere rising to fever pitch. With Scola taken off, Mario Kasun was able to come into his own and he and Navarro guided Barça to the interval with things evenly matched at 38-38.

Third period

Barça started dominating in the third, but constant free throws awarded to Tau broke their rhythm. Great plays by Navarro and Basile put Winterthur Barça into a slender lead (46-50) whereupon Bozidar Maljkovic switched to a zone defence, which Barça read to perfection. Navarro’s great night continued with another three pointer to make it 46-53 after a seven-point streak. Two Roe fouls, one technical, aided affairs, and that was enough for the visitors to stretch their lead to eleven (46-57).

It was all going perfectly to plan, but then the referees opted to have a hand in affairs as well. A more than debatable Navarro foul on Scola led to the Argentinian play-acting on the floor. Protests from the Vitoria players ensued and perhaps in compensation for their decision against Roe shortly before, the match officials issued the fifth and definitive foul against Navarro. Barça had amassed a fine lead, but without their star playmaker, things had taken a desperate, and wholly unfair, turn for the worse. But that only seemed to spur the Catalans on for more, and without Navarro, their play actually got better, with two consecutive triples from Lakovic and Roger Grimau putting them 13 up (50-63), and they managed to hold onto that advantage until the end of the period (55-67).

Fourth period

The fourth period began as expected, with Tau piling on the pressure and Planinic taking the central role as the home side took seven in a row to close the gap to ten (62-72). But Tau continued to surrender free throws to Barça, and that was the key to Tau’s failure to close the gap.

Basile covered superbly for Navarro’s absence, and as the clock ticked by, the home side came to realise that there was no way back any more. Barça blocked all that came their way and the home fans even started jeering their team as they realised their place in the final was lost. The final minutes witnessed a stunning, almost mocking, display from Barcelona, which was enough to drain the last drops of morale from the Tau players, and by the time the final hooter sounded, with Barça coming in easy winners at 79-95, a large portion of the Vitoria crowd had already seen enough. It was a devastating display all-round, and if Barça can take that kind of basketball into the final, Real Madrid have reason to feel very worried indeed.