Barcelona and Real Madrid are now just one away from a spot in this year’s Euroleague Final Four they defeated Galatasaray and champions Olympiacos in their respective quarter-final games.
A double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds from Ioannis Bourousis helped Madrid to an 82-77 win over Olympiacos in the Spanish capital.
The Liga Endesa side kept their advantage going throughout despite a strong finish from last year’s Euroleague champions, who were led by Vassilis Spanoulis’ 18 points.
“The key that allowed us to win these two games at home was the defence,” Bourousis said. “We played a great defence. Now we are a little tired, but we are up 2-0, and that is the most important thing.
“On Monday we will face a complicated game. I know the Olympiacos crowd and it is very hard to play in their court against them. They try to help their team get the victory. We have to be very focused from the beginning of the game.”
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Barcelona took full advantage of a Galatasaray side missing leading scorer Carlos Arroyo by posting a comfortable 84-63 win in Catalunya.
Barca led 21-8 after the first quarter and never looked back, as the Turkish now face an uphill battle to get back into this series.
“We are happy with this second win that gets us closer to our goal – going to the Final Four,” Barca coach Xavi Pascual said. “We have three opportunities to win a game and make it to the Final Four, so this is a good situation. We had a better start than in Game 1, controlling our defence in the first quarter. We gradually played better on offense, but we got stuck in the first five minutes of the third quarter. Still, we have a good all-around game in general terms.”
Brad Oleson led Barcelona with 14 points. Henry Domercant led Galatasaray with 11.
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