Goodbye with your head up. Competing until the end. Leaving behind that image of wandering equipment, without a soul and that is frayed at the first change. Barça, reduced by injuries and after a season that did not invite optimism, was at a basket to achieve an impossible against Monaco. Kevin Punter, signed and then renewed to decide the big games, had in his hands seal the pass to the final Four with a shot on the horn. But the attempt of the escort, perhaps precipitated, was only the epilogue of the Blaugrana in the Euroleague (85-84). The utopia to trace a 2-0 at home, something that nobody has done, went out in the last sigh in the Gaston Médecin room. The Monegascos, eliminated last season in identical circumstances, celebrated the pass, while those of Peñarroya had to settle for an honorable farewell.
Barcelona, often accused of lacking concentration, laxs in defense, signed a staging worthy of the stage and context. The first basket, a Mate de Satoransky, was an advance of the good Blaugrana of starting at the controls of an Aponerson. An atosige apron for the defense of Diallo seconded the American, which was the Monegasque response, with nine points, in a first quarter of Blaugrana (15-19).
The second Barcelona unit, with Abrines, Brizuela and Willy Hernangómez adding, kept the guy until the physicist and intensity of those of Spanoulis, protected at times by the arbitration permissiveness, made a dent in the Blaugrana team before the break.
The novelty Papagiannis, who had not played a second before in the series, hurt both in the area and in the perimeter. It would be the beginning of his recital. A Greek basket gave the first advantage to the premises (32-31), at that time higher in both hoops and adding troops to the cause such as Blossomgame and Okobo. Denied Parker in the first part, with zero points in nine pitches, Barça only found relief in Punter’s actions. Mike James, with a triple in recent seconds, put the tip to a bad second Barcelona period (45-39).
Anderson, Willy Hernangómez, Pinter and Fall held Barça in the worst moments
Barça seemed to show its worst face after the resumption, ten below in a seen and not seen, after James simple baskets. But then Anderson and Satoransky rescue, with two triples in a row, and especially an inspired Hernangómez. The pivot, in the target for his low performance since his arrival at the Palau, reduced the difference to a sigh with three followed baskets that left everything to decide in the final envy (65-62).
The last quarter before the Final Four, the moment of truth, a secondary as Fall appeared to give the front on the score to Barça (68-71). The pivot finally enforced its 2.21 meters, both with rebounds and with points, six consecutive. The game then entered a nervous war. Each basket was suffered.
Mike James, the best of Monaco with Papagiannis.
Sebastien Nogier / Efe
James, top scorer in the history of the competition, took the rudder of the Monegascos and found his unexpected partner in Papagiannis. Parker compensated minimally with five points and apron helped from the free kick until entering a final minute of infarction, a point above the Blaugrana. A minimal difference that James turned with a basket, ultimately the last of the game. Anderson later failed a triple distant, Willy Hernangómez asked for a foul in the rebound and papagiannis failed his only shot of the match before Plant, in the absence of four seconds, opt for a distant shot rather than look at his teammates. Barça, despite everything, died proudly in Monaco.
Data Sheet:
Monaco, 85 – Barça, 84
mónaco (15+30+20+20): Strazel (11), James (11), Blossomgame (9), Diallo (11), theis (4) -Equipe Inicial-, Okabo (9), Loyd (2), Jaititeh (4), pagiannis (17) y tarpey (-).
Barça (19+20+23+22): Punter (19), Satoransky (8), Anderson (16), Parker (7), Fall (10)-initial team-, Brizuela (6), Hernangómez (16), Abrines (2), Parra (-) and Villar (-).
Referees: Ilija Belosevic (SER), Milan Nedovic (ESL) and Gytis Vilius (Lit). Without eliminated. Visitor coach Joan Peñarroya (min.24) pointed out technique.
Incidents: Fifth match of the quarterfinals of the Euroleague played at the Salle Gaston Médecin de Monaco against about 4,500 spectators.
