There is no possible consolation for Barça after what happened last Thursday at the Stark Arena against Real Madrid and, of course, defeating Olympiacos in the match for third and fourth place in the final four is not. That said, it is to be commended that Jasiekivicius's team took the match he never wanted to play seriously and that they scored a victory that will never be remembered.
The best reading of all in a Barça key was confirming that Nikola Mirotic reaches the Endesa League playoffs in a state of monumental form. After accumulating a majestic but sterile 39 PIR in the semi-finals, the Montenegrin continued in MVP mode against Olympiacos and added another 27 PIR to his suitcase back in Belgrade.
Jasikevicius took the duel quite seriously, perhaps looking for his men to maintain competitiveness against Gran Canaria, which is about to start, and did not give too much space to the less usual, starting with the rotation, from which they stayed again it was Oriola and Sergi Martínez. Mirotic, Calathes and Sanli far exceeded 25 minutes of play, thus honoring the Euroleague. The one who did see his playing minutes increased was Higgins, still trying to get back into the rhythm of the competition -against Madrid it was seen that he still has a long way to go-, who left a much better image yesterday and could become a 'signing' for the fight for the League. Abrines gave a little scare by spraining his right ankle but was able to get back on track.
This time Barça commanded at the Stark Arena practically from the beginning to the end, except for a small stretch of the second act in which Sloukas put the Greeks ahead (30-31). But having their team behind on the scoreboard did not discourage the fans of Piraeus, the stands were conquered by the red team, who did not stop singing throughout the match, giving such a melancholy match a certainly happy and beautiful air.
The damn third quarter, the one that condemned Barça to defeat against Madrid, was benevolent this time and experienced the best Barça moments, to which Laprovittola, quite subdued, gave the maximum of the afternoon (57-42, m25). Bartzokas's team struggled several times but could not turn the score around and Mirotic and Higgins sealed the victory in the final minutes. The ordeal was over.
84- Barça (20 25 17 22): Calathes (9), Laprovittola (4), Kuric (0), Mirotic (19) and Sanli (16) -initial team-, Davies (10), Abrines (8), Hayes -Davis (0), Exum (3), Higgins (11) and Jokubaitis (4).
74 - Olympiacos (18 20 18 18): Walkup (8), Dorsey (10), Papanikolau (-), Vezenkov (20) y Fall (2) -cinco titular-, Lountzis (0), Larentzakis (5), Sloukas (14), Martin (2), Printezis (0), Jean-Charles (2) and Mckissic (11).
Referees: Ilija Belosevic, Olegs Latisevs and Damir Javor. Without eliminated.
Incidents: Match for third place in the 2021-2022 Euroleague Final Phase played at the Stark Arena in Belgrade before some 14,000 spectators.
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