Barça fell to Monaco but it doesn’t matter. In an inconsequential match, with nothing at stake, where the Catalans repeated mistakes and showed the same shortcomings as against Real Madrid. They shot 27 triples, entered eight, only Mirotic exceeded ten points and were inferior to their rival from start to finish. Apart from the Montenegrin, Abrines, Nnaji and little else notable about the Catalans. If in the semifinals they played the worst game at the worst possible moment, against Monaco it was a bad game at an irrelevant moment.
Understanding that professional basketball is still a business, the match for third and fourth place between Barça and Monaco does not make any sense. Outside of the clichés, of the “game that nobody wants to play”, the reality is that making an extra effort in the final stretch of the season does not seem like the best idea. The public (from Kaunas!) did not respond and television audiences can imagine them. If what prevails is money, the number of games, other formulas can be sought to resolve the Euroleague. If what prevails is emotion, the game is superfluous.
The match started with the lack of tension that it was supposed to have, with distributed losses (more for Barça) and a general lack of control. Satoransky had a leading role in the absence of Mirotic and only Abrines, out of three, added clearly for his team. No obvious improvement compared to Friday’s game, against a Monaco that gradually found itself more comfortable. They did not suffer in defense nor did they have problems in attack. Barça continued in the first quarter very far from everything demonstrated before landing in Kaunas (24-13).
The bad feelings kept coming from the triple, which they abused again, but finally some green shoots were appreciated. A couple of cuts that ended with easy baskets, Vesely’s midrange shot, Kalinic’s greater defensive intensity… A little, not enough, but at least something. The downside was the inability not only to stop Monaco, but the ease with which they scored penetrating through the middle. And of course, the advantage continued to grow until the end of the first half where the blaugranas made up minimally (44-28).
The five points in a row from Laprovittola cheered up the start of the third quarter, in which Mirotic’s notable improvement was also confirmed. At least from the triple, where he finally began to hit. But the biggest difference was undoubtedly in defense, with much quicker substitutions after direct blocks, minimizing Monaco’s scoring ability. It was a very good start to the fourth, which was marred by the second part of it. Monaco was once again superior and Barça (60-45) continued in tow.
It is likely that Barça were beaten in the first quarter, perhaps until Friday against Real Madrid, but they could do nothing in the final minutes against Monaco. A lot of triple, bad success and little self-esteem. We can save Abrines, perhaps at his best since he arrived in Barcelona, and Nnaji, who was the most intense. Of the others, little news and none good. Barça fell resoundingly (they lost 20) and said goodbye to a Final Four to forget.
| 3 jordan loyd |
| eleven Alpha Diallo |
| twenty Donatas Montiejunas |
| 10 John Brown |
| 1 Chima Moneke |
| 55 Mike James |
| 0 Elie Okobo |
| Four. Five Donta Hall |
| 32 Matthew Strazel |
| 24 Yakuba Ouattara |
| 4 jaron blossomgame |
| 5 Yoan Makoundou |
| Min | pts | RT | RO | DR | Ast | Per | rec | Tap | T1 | T2 | T3 | FR | CF | Val | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 jordan loyd | 22 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | 3/4 | 1/3 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| eleven Alpha Diallo | 17 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3/3 | 2/5 | 1/1 | 5 | 2 | 17 | |
| twenty Donatas Montiejunas | fifteen | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0/2 | 1/3 | 0/1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | |
| 10 John Brown | 13 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | |
| 1 Chima Moneke | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2/2 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |
| 55 Mike James | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 0/1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | |
| 0 Elie Okobo | 25 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 5/9 | 0/2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | |
| Four. Five Donta Hall | 24 | 9 | eleven | 2 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3/3 | 3/5 | 0/1 | 2 | 2 | 17 | |
| 32 Matthew Strazel | 22 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4/5 | 5/5 | 0/2 | 2 | 2 | 10 | |
| 24 Yakuba Ouattara | twenty | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 0/2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| 4 jaron blossomgame | fifteen | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0/0 | 3/4 | 1/1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |
| 5 Yoan Makoundou | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 2/4 | 0/1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 13 Thomas Satoransky |
| 33 Nikola Mirotic |
| twenty-one Alex Abrines |
| twenty Nicholas Laprovittola |
| 5 Sertac Sanli |
| 6 Jan Veseley |
| 24 Kyle Kuric |
| 31 Rokas Jokubaitis |
| 10 Nikola Kalinic |
| 46 james naji |
| 23 Mike Toby |
| 8 Sergi Martinez |
| Min | pts | RT | RO | DR | Ast | Per | rec | Tap | T1 | T2 | T3 | FR | CF | Val | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Thomas Satoransky | 25 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 2/8 | 1/4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| 33 Nikola Mirotic | 24 | fifteen | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 2/4 | 3/6 | 2 | 3 | 13 | |
| twenty-one Alex Abrines | 23 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1/2 | 1/1 | 2/4 | 1 | 3 | 10 | |
| twenty Nicholas Laprovittola | 22 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 1/3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | |
| 5 Sertac Sanli | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 6 Jan Veseley | twenty | 6 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 3/4 | 0/0 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |
| 24 Kyle Kuric | twenty | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2/2 | 1/2 | 1/3 | 2 | 2 | 8 | |
| 31 Rokas Jokubaitis | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 0/3 | 0/2 | 2 | 1 | -2 | |
| 10 Nikola Kalinic | 13 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0/0 | 23 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| 46 james naji | 12 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1/2 | 3/3 | 0/0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | |
| 23 Mike Toby | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/1 | 0/5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| 8 Sergi Martinez | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0 | 1/2 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |