Like the passenger from Aterriza como puede who loses her nerve and begins to receive one slap after another, Lenovo Tenerife was scoring baskets without stopping in a second quarter for the ages, in which Grimau's Barça sealed qualification for its first final twenty minutes early. Thus, the Blaugrana collect in the best way, with an overwhelming display, the glove of Real Madrid, with which they made an appointment in the grand final of the Copa del Rey in Málaga.
Relive in the Carpena the tyranny of the two greats of Spanish basketball in the tournament, paused a year ago by Unicaja and Tenerife in Badalona, which will write a new chapter this afternoon in the Malaga coliseum, the tenth classic in the last fifteen finals. With 28 titles for the whites and 27 for the Blaugrana, the battle for cup supremacy is ready.
If Madrid comfortably beat Valencia, Barça was not far behind, posting the fourth best scorer in the history of the Copa del Rey with 40 points in the second quarter. The previous record was held by Real Madrid, which added 38 in the 2018 final.
Grimau's team played ten dizzying minutes, undoubtedly the best since the new coach took the bench, with an unprecedented run of 40-8. A show adorned with triples, which undermined the morale of a Tenerife that seemed to throw in the towel too soon. The Blaugrana achieved up to seven hits from the goal in that quarter with six different signatures, corroborating a collective exhibition. To those shots we must add the aggressiveness of Willy Hernangómez in attack and the runs of Satoransky to complete an authentic showtime Molotov cocktail. Two free throws from Laprovittola represented the Canary Islands' biggest injury (54-22, minute 19).
It would have been impossible to predict this sudden twist in the script after a first quarter in which Vidorreta's team ended up setting the times. Although Barça appeared with a 7-0 lead thanks to a very connected Jabari Parker, Tenerife managed to adjust its defense and slow down the game. After surprising Unicaja, the yellow praetorian guard seemed to have fresh legs to the sound scored by Marcelinho Huertas (40). Of course, after his immaculate 6/6 in quarter triples, Doornekamp (38) went unnoticed and Shermadini had a hard time getting going. Despite everything, with a 0-10 partial the Tenerife team managed to close the first quarter ahead... before being devoured by a hurricane of points and triples. Bad day to quit smoking.
It would have even been understandable for Barça to take their foot off the accelerator. And not only because of the comfort of the score, also thinking about the final against Real Madrid, which will be a major challenge for Grimau's team. But no one relaxed and the Blaugranas continued to percuss, protesting every decision against them as if their lives depended on it, a commendable attitude for them and the best way to face the grand final. Tenerife also decided to honor the Cup, which costs so much sweat, by drawing a more even second half, a sad consolation in the face of the resounding result.
The final stretch became an exchange of baskets, with little referee intervention, which allowed Barça to once again exceed 100 points. 102 he endorsed Baxi Manresa in the quarterfinals and yesterday they ended up being 108 against Tenerife after the last mate of the house of James Nnaji, recruited to provide a well-deserved rest to Hernangómez and Vesely.
Flying at supersonic speed in this Cup, the most difficult thing now comes for Barça: landing the ship against a Real Madrid team that will pose a monumental battle. The grand final is served again.
108. Barça (14 40 24 30): Satoransky (11), Laprovittola (7), Kalinic (2), Parker (5), Vesely (8) -starting five-, Hernangómez (15), Da Silva (8), Jokubaitis (10), Brizuela (13), Nnaji (9), Abrines (10) and Parra (10).
76. Lenovo Tenerife (16 8 24 28): Fitipaldo (5), Guy (12), Cook (7), Doornekamp (-) and Shermadini (9) - the starting quintet -, Salin (7), Fernandez (3), Gardens (15), Abromaitis (16), Tailor (-) and Diop (2).
Referees: Juan Carlos Garcia Gonzalez, Emilio Perez Pizarro and Alfonso Olivares. They eliminated Ilimane Diop for fouls
Incidents: Second semi-final of the Copa del Rey in Málaga played at the José María Martín Carpena Pavilion in front of 10,547 spectators. At the end of the first quarter, the ACB paid tribute to former player Rodrigo San Miguel, who played 527 games in 17 seasons in the top category.
