Barcelona beat Real Madrid 94-79 at home to lead the series 2-1. 16 three-pointers made it possible, setting a new record in the Liga Endesa Finals on the way.
The Catalan side played lovely basketball to get the lead back in the Finals. Attacking was the only way against Real Madrid, according to Pascual. And he was right. Among his players, Juan Carlos Navarro, with 19 points, once again proved to be a unique player; unique in a truly sense. He may be 34 already, and may not be as fit as he was back in those days, but he still has that magic that allows him to change a game all of a sudden.
Laso’s players were unable to react against this inspired performance. Everything fitted for Barcelona. Marcelinho Huertas is finally being the director everybody expected him to be. His end of the season is awesome. And it seems that Dorsey is in very good terms with him. They found each other any time. The games against Valencia did nothing but starting to show this spectacular connection.
Also Bostjan Nachbar had a great performance. Some three-pointers in the first quarter gave Barcelona a lead that they would not lost anymore. After him, it was Olesonm who finished with 16 points, in the second quarter who showed his scoring skills. Overall, the inside players of Barcelona played a lot behind the arc. Tomic only received a couple of balls inside. But this unexpected strategy proved to be very successful.
Real Madrid had a couple of chances to tie the score during the second quarter, but they just could not reach there. It seems the season has been very long for them. And they are now tired. Same as it happened against Maccabi in the Final Four, they do not find that extra motivation when the rival demands it from them. Only Sergio Llull, who led Madrid with 15 points, found an easy way to the basket. But they have been the best team in Europe this year, we can say, and maybe they will find that bit of a desire for the next game to get the series back to Madrid.
