Barça ends the preseason with four games and three victories, with some effectiveness and little brilliance. He lost the Catalan League against Baxi Manresa (81-70), after getting rid a day before, not without difficulty, of the Penya in the semifinals. Now it’s time to face the Super Cup with still a lot of work ahead of him: he can’t afford more games like yesterday.
Of the new signings for this season, two have participated very little in the preseason. Sanli is injured, suffers a broken toe and it remains to be seen if he arrives for the weekend’s appointment in Tenerife. Hayes, who did play in Manresa, went through the games with more pain than glory. The face was, however, Jokubaitis, key in the semifinals, and also Nicolás Laprovittola. The Argentine guard arrives with the rhythm of the Games and offers a good alternative to his coach.
Barça showed its virtues but also its shortcomings at the beginning of the clash. Too many lost balls, as well as too many simple baskets allowed to Manresa. Specifically to Francisco, Bako and Sima, who on the inside were superior to Barça. And it is that the azulgranas arrived depleted in the interior game, without Sanli and also without Oriola, with annoyances. The burden fell on a misguided Davies and young Badji.
Manresa’s plan, with a lot of intensity and low scoring, went very well at the beginning but was diluted with the minutes. In eight, those of Jasikevicius had already rotated the three bases (Calathes, Jokubaitis and Laprovittola) and They got ten points ahead (20-30).
But in Manresa, in a game with more techniques than necessary, chained a great partial that allowed him to tie the game. With Mirotic and Higgins far from their level, it was not the day of the stars of Barça, Baxi’s options in the match remained intact at halftime (36-37).
Manresa was able to get ahead thanks to a disastrous day in the outside shot of the Barcelona, with failures of Abrines and Mirotic in shots of which they do not usually forgive. He supported the visiting team Calathes, very inspired and who had to play several actions due to the lack of options for the pass. Manresa scored more easily, and Jasikevicius had to enter Jokubaitis to increase the defensive intensity. It didn’t work either.
Pedro Martínez’s team continued to make Barça’s points very expensive and finally managed to get ahead despite the efforts of Smits, the best Barça player in the final stretch (73-67). Maximum advantage to three for the end, which earned them to win the match. Barça, in the final minutes, definitively collapsed in attack.