Madrid Takes Victory in Barcelona 89-91. The match, intense and heated, wasn't decided until the last two minutes, where a splendid Llull and an effective Tavares tipped the balance with their performance for the visitors. Barça loses their eighth consecutive clásico - the fifth of this season - and faces the end of the league with doubts and certainties, expectant, in the face of a difficult schedule and a squad crippled by multiple injuries.
The Beginnings of the Match
The first half was dense. The score, tied, went back and forth between Madrid and Barcelona, thanks to small bursts of quality from some individuals. In clásicos, the undeniable quality of certain players can make the difference. The new idol of the city, Kevin Punter, led the home team with 11 points in the first quarter, but a decisive Llull and an accurate Musa constantly closed the door on him taking the lead, although Barça was still ahead at the end of the first quarter (24-20). From the first half, the match had a heated atmosphere, after some words from Llull to coach Peñarroya that riled up the Palau - with reason -.
Barça slackened offensively in the second quarter - a drop influenced by the short rotation of the team, only 10 players had minutes throughout the match - and Madrid took advantage by scoring 8 more points than the locals and going into halftime victorious (39-42).
The Expulsion That Tips the Match
In the third quarter, it was Edy Tavares who led the visitors. His prodigious physical strength in the zone and undeniable talent for avoiding referees seeing the fouls he commits was exploited by Chus Mateo's team to find a space to hurt the culers, solid until then in defense. The Cape Verdean baited the pivot Fall - who innocently fell into the trap; the expulsion was avoidable - until provoking his second technical, which sent the Barça player to the locker room.
This expulsion changed the course of the match, where Barça, by Peñarroya's decision - difficult to understand -, dispensed with playing with a pure pivot, allowing Tavares to roam freely in the Palau's zone, with Willy Hernangómez present on the bench. Barça held the result, despite the difficulties thanks to an accurate Satoransky, who signed one of the dunks of the season.
An Exciting End
The Palau sang the Cant dels Segadors with soul, on edge, before the start of the last quarter, which lived up to the circumstances. Peñarroya opted for a small line-up, with Parker and Parra inside. The former Penya player, especially sharp, emboldened the local fans, who grew with the pace set by the Catalan power forward and the Basque Brizuela, who together added 17 points in 10 minutes. These performances made the score difference just one point with a minute left on the clock.
Even so, the efforts weren't enough to stop the white machine, which with a three-pointer from Llull - a curious "mandarina," bounced on the rim and flew vertically toward the pavilion's ceiling, suspended in the air for almost three eternal seconds, during which the ball pondered, and decided to go in - and another from Musa after an offensive rebound from Tavares put a five-point lead with thirty seconds left. Barça didn't throw in the towel and cut the distance to have the game within two points with six seconds left. The home team quickly provoked a foul that sent Deck to the free-throw line, with a two-point difference.
The Palau, blinded by emotion, shouted until losing their voice to provoke, with total effectiveness, the Uruguayan to miss both free throws. But at the moment of grabbing the rebound, the league's giant Tavares, with 8 in. (20 cm) more height than his marker Parker - only 3 in. (7 cm) more than the substitute Hernangómez, who didn't enjoy a minute in the last quarter, despite being one of the highest salaries in Europe and the only pivot in the squad - grabbed it. With the ball in his hands, he made a bad pass that was tapped by Brizuela, leaving the ball dead on the half-court line. Punter took it, and with an off-balance running shot already out of time, signed the end of the match and Barça's defeat (89-91).