Again Barça forgave. Again he lost. Like in the final four. As in the last Endesa League. Madrid hit him again. The giant Tavares completed a monumental match, crowned with a determining stopper against Sanli and provided the fourth consecutive Super Cup for the white team. 24 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocks for the Madrid center. Jasikevicius's team had a good opportunity and were up 12 in the third quarter, but were disconnected due to a good run by Llull and everything was even, until it led to extra time. On the merry-go-round Tavares ended up ruling. He does not learn Barça, although he has the whole season ahead of him. The signings of him, for the moment, seemed simply complementary.
In a modern basketball marked by the triple, both Barça and Madrid surprised from the start by charging the inside game. The Blaugrana team was intimidated by Tavares, who changed the arc of the rival shots, but forgot about his pair, the Turkish Sanli, who took advantage of it to score Barça's first eleven points (he would finish with 21 but in the end it would make water) . Meanwhile, Madrid diversified production more, always with a little more ball for its new pearl, the Bosnian Musa. The Whites dominated the rebound but their shooting percentage was low and they didn't convert their second options.
Jasikevicius's men couldn't find Laprovittola or Satoransky (no points until the break) but a decent defense and Sanli's good hand were enough to keep them slipstreaming without being overwhelmed (17-15 at the end of the first quarter).
Within a panorama of the beginning of the campaign, with many mismatches and errors at close range in the shot, the first one who managed to sting from the outside would take a step forward. This was Barça, led by Kuric. He was left out of the squad against Joventus, but Jasikevicius rescued him for the final to the detriment of Higgins. Without Mirotic, injured, nor the American, the Barcelona team was presented without its two main offensive arguments in recent seasons. That was not an impediment for Barça to give an interesting pull and get to put themselves up ten. His defense suffocated Madrid. Neither Llull nor Rudy Fernández nor Sergio Rodríguez were accurate and only Musa showed his excellent quality. Meanwhile, the Blaugrana team had Kuric, who scored two triples in this phase. Barça went upstairs to the snack (29-37) and did so without needing Laprovittola's points, waiting for the Argentine to grab one of his superlative streaks. Of course, it was also difficult for Madrid not to improve from long distance (he had a horrible 1 of 9 in triples).
Laprovittola did not go into combustion but a basket of his raised the rent to twelve. Barça had more fluidity than a Madrid that seemed without a compass, but lo and behold, Jasikevicius's men lacked the instinct to finish off their rival at that time. It is incomprehensible to commit this sin again when the whites' ability to survive is well known.
That's why when Llull hit his first triple the alarms sounded and they didn't stop until the end of the third quarter. Three almost consecutive triples from the Balearic Islands captained a 19-2 run that put Barça on the ropes, which outraged Jasikevicius, again in a hysterical format and that turned the score around (55-49).
Barça required to plug that bleeding. At least he didn't leave the match and rejoined, led by Laprovittola (14 assists) and triples by Jokubaitis and Tobey. The game was going from the edge of a ball and Madrid percussed with the Tavares effect, hammer in the two baskets. In the absence of 15s Tobey tied (71-71). There was one play left but Deck didn't solve it. The extension was served.
In the same Tavares imposed his law. Barça, with an exhausted Laprovittola, could not overcome the giant.
