The winner of the series that “intersects” with Partizan in the semifinals of the Final Four of the Euroleague is in sight.
Barcelona beat Žalgiris 89:81 in the second game of the playoff series and won a place in the Final Four. Euroleague in Kaunas. The team Šarunasa Jasikevičius defeated his former team in a tense battle in Spain, with a huge contribution from the great center Jan Vesely, who scored 26 points with six rebounds, as well as Nikola Mirotic, who scored 22 points for the Catalans. Serbian international Nikola Kalinić scored eight points in 15 minutes on the court.
Although Žalgiris led to a three-pointer by Niko Laprovitola at the end of the third quarter (68:66), and then with four minutes before the end came to only two minus points after a basket by Laurinas Birutis (76:78), Mirotic answered with an important goal , followed by a three-pointer by Lithuanian Rokas Jokubaitis for 85:78 for Barça and although Žalgiris had an answer to that as well, it was not enough for a complete drama. Ignas Brazdeikis made a three-pointer for four points with a minute and 20 to go, and then Veseli and Jokubaitis put an end to the game.
Barcelona now has ahead of it a visit to Betis on Sunday in the Spanish championship, in which it is the leader with a score of 24-5, and then on Tuesday it will play for a place in the Final Four, where it could play against Partizan in the semi-finals, if the black and white use one of the selected match balls in Madrid.
Jasikevičius, a former player of Željko Obradović from Panathinaikos, has been leading Barça since 2020 and since then they have lost once in the final against Efes (2021) and once in the semi-final against Real (2022). This year, with also former “Zoc” players from champion Fenerbahce, Nikola Kalinić and Jan Veseli, Barca will once again attack the title of European champion, which it won only twice in history – the first time in 2003 under the leadership of Svetislav Pešić on the bench and Dejan Bodiroga on the field, and the second time in 2010, when Xavi Pasqual sat on the bench, and the MVP of the Final Four was Juan Carlos Navarro.
In the second semi-final, the winners of the series in which the draw was 1:1 after the first two games, Monaco – Maccabi and Olympiakos – Fenerbahce will play.
Of course, it is still early for all projections, especially after the previous ones, stormy 24 hours after Partizan’s victoryduring which The Euroleague punished the black and whites by not playing Kevin Panter in the next two games and Matias Lessor in the next one, which will be played on Tuesday. Also, Dante Exum is “rough” and the question is whether he will be recovered from the injury to the left foot by the next match, in which the suspended Gerson Jabusele and Gabriel Dek will not play for Real, but Walter Tavares could play, if he recovers.