By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Real Madrid broke this season’s “curse” against archrivals FC Barcelona with an 86-83 win in the second semifinal of the night to return to the championship game for the first time since winning the title in 2018! Pablo Laso’s squad will face off reigning champions Anadolu Efes for a chance to return to the podium.
Barcelona used a 9-0 run in the second quarter to take a double-digit lead (43-33) moments before the halftime break, though Real did not give up and rushed back with a 26-11 score in the third quarter to get in charge of the game, paced by the heroics of Sergio Llull and Fabien Causeur.
Nicolas Laprovittola poured back to back three-pointers for Barca entering the final three minutes of the game (73-75), yet Causeur made sure to score 5 points in a row to give his team an advantage as the game entered crunch time. Nikola Mirotic fed Brandon Davies to bring Barca within a one-point deficit with 1:18 to play, and the game was still hanging on a thread.
Nick Calathes picked the pocket of Real to hand the ball to Nicolas Laprovittola under the basket, but feisty Vincent Poirier’s emphatic block, followed by a clutch basket by Llull gave Laso’s squad a three-point lead with 20 seconds remaining.
Causeur scored 18 points with a phenomenal performance on both ends of the court, Yabusele added 18 points and 8 rebounds and Llull had 15 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Mirotic’s nearly perfect game (26 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, PIR of 39) wasn’t enough to carry Barca back to the final for a 2021 championship game rematch. Laprovittola followed with 12 points and Brandon Davies had 15 points for Sarunas Jasikevicius’ team.
The championship game between Real and Anadolu Efes is underway Saturday, May 21 (18:00 CET). Earlier that day, Barcelona will face Olympiacos Piraeus for the third-place game (15:00 CET).
Photo credit: EuroLeague