There are two ways to win a final four. The first, with talent. The second, without fear. The perfect combination would come from the mixture of these two concepts, that of quality and that of mentality. On the contrary, there are two ways to lose it, with the paralysis of fear and with a fatal disconnection. Barça seemed to play with the virtues to end up showing their defects. First shining. Then leaving the meeting in an incomprehensible way. And in the end, falling behind Madrid's tempo and its incomparable ability to survive. He starred in a final reaction that gave him a new opportunity. But Barça also wasted it despite the monumental performance of a Nikola Mirotic who is still unable to become European champion.
The precedents against the whites smiled at Barça and when the Blaugrana team saw themselves up and superior, they felt comfortable, too much. He did not count on the fight of Laso's team, given up for buried on multiple occasions and almost always ending up sticking his head out, either to come back or to give the opponent a good scare.
The defeat leaves the Blaugrana team on the couch of disappointment and frustration. But deep down it is nothing that comes again to Jasikevicius's team, brilliant when they have the day and with a contrasting class but that usually have sinkholes not from one game to another but within the same game.
That irregularity can be fixed in a normal match of the season but on the crucial day it can be paid dearly. You can't talk about failure but you can talk about a huge fiasco because this project was built with a lot of checkbook not only to return to the final four but to win them, to rebel against the history of the section, so many times among the best four and so few ( only two) lifting the trophy for best in Europe.
No one knows as much what it is to lose on the sill of glory as Barça in basketball. It did it in the 80s and 90s and it continues to suffer in the 21st century. At the time of settling accounts, we will have to look at the bench and the track. No one doubts the charisma of Sarunas Jasikevicius and his ascendancy over the fans, but the team's glue doesn't always work. As for the squad, there is a lot of quality but also a lot of inconsistency, especially from a psychological point of view. They looked like fools. They have no defense.
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