Real Madrid fell short. This time there were no miracles or incredible apparitions that tipped the scales in his favor. There have been three even games, but three defeats. And Barça has been proclaimed champion of the Endesa League 2022-23 after sweeping the eternal rival, thus adding his 20th domestic competition. They take the only title of the season after Unicaja won the Copa del Rey and Madrid won the Spanish Super Cup and the historic Euroleague. All forged by a Nikola Mirotic who has been the constant protagonist of yours in his already confirmed farewell. He will go to a new team and the Catalans will start a new project, a continuation one, which will count, except for surprise, with the maintenance of Sarunas Jasikevicius on the bench.
There are many keys that have led to the defeat of Real Madrid. This time they did not appear Sergios nor Rudy. There were no miraculous baskets. Dzanan Musa’s level was questionable. And there was no stopping Mirotic or Jan Vesely. Neither to the Barça chorality, which was able to show off its incredible squad to have a multitude of options. Madrid’s defense has been poor (all the results have gone to many points). Jasikevicius won the game over Chus Mateo. And, above all, there was a differentiating factor: the fatigue of the whites, for whom the season has been long and they have reached the end without gasoline.
Next, we go on to recount the keys to Real Madrid’s defeat:
- No news from Muse: Dzanan Musa’s contribution was conspicuous by its absence in this final. He only scored 5 points in the first game, stayed at 2 in the second and barely reached 9 in the third. In the Euroleague final, eclipsed by the Sergios, he did not have a great role either (6 goals) and thus shows that, despite the fact that his talent is undeniable, he still lacks some frying for the big events. His facility for scoring was necessary so that the team did not rely so much on veterans, but he has suffocated against the Barça defense and has not lived up to what is required of him to win an ACB League.
- No arguments against Mirotic: The Spanish-Montenegrin played with nothing to lose and a lot to gain… and it showed. He let go, he was the one he has been during the regular season and destroyed a Madrid that had answers to his good work. Nikola, in what is his confirmed departure from Barça, went to 17.6 points, 6 rebounds and a 23.3 average efficiency in the three games in the final. His 25 goals, 5 rebounds and 3 assists in the second game remain for posterity (with a PIR of 31). And he conquers, of course, the MVP, the second with a Barça to which he says goodbye. Now, It only remains to be seen what the future will bring..
- The old guard this time did not appear: Rudy, El Chacho and Llull combined for 37 points in the first duel of the final… but that’s as far as they went. This time, there was no miracle. At 38, 37 and 35 years old, they cannot always be the saviors of Real Madrid. The trend was always downward: in the second game they reached 22 goals, but with 0 from Rudy and a shot, that of Llull, who this time did not enter to win the game and was the confirmation that magic is finite . In the last one, 11 goals, again without any from Rudy. El Chacho had good moments in the distribution, but finished with 1 of 5 in triples. And Llull ran out of gasoline. Miracles sometimes happen… and sometimes they don’t.
- problems in triple: of more less. The 12 of 19 of the first game was extraordinary, but left the worrying situation of not being able to win the game with those percentages. The second they went to a not bad 8 of 17, but they also ran out of victory. In the third, the situation exploded: so much success was unsustainable. On 5 of 21 he confirmed that the whites couldn’t give them more and they ended up dying faithful to his style, but scoring less than in the two previous games and shooting more. Again, trying the same thing doesn’t always work. And so it was this time, since Chus Mateo found no solutions other than forcing the machine until it broke. Jasikevicius, with more options, won the game.
- Vesely, the chorality of Barça and the defense of Madrid: Jan Vesely made a good signing and was the second best player at Baça after Mirotic. Good defense and 10, 18 and 19 points in each of the three games, in which he hammered (this time) his rival with that infallible shot that he has from medium distance (4-5 meters), which make him in a constant threat. This joins the Barca choir, which had 7, 5 and 5 players with double figures in scoring in each of the three games and has distributed 62 total assists to Madrid’s 45. The whites’ defense, also ineffective: 97, 86 and 93 points received. Barça, by the way, has still not lost three straight games in the ACB in the last seven years. It was against Real Madrid. And the 2-0 still has not been traced. They are data.
- The fatigue, evident: If there is a cause that emerges above the rest in the defeat of Madrid, it is the accumulated wear and tear. And it is not a justification, but a fact: they have gone to 88 games played this season, their absolute record… out of 93 possible. They started on September 24 in the semifinals of the Super Cup, in which they beat Real Betis. Since then, it has not stopped: 34 regular ACB League matches, 34 in the Euroleague regular phase and the playoffs in each competition, which had no breaks in the continental one, with 5 out of 5 possible against Partizán and the two of the Final Four. They have only been left without playing the Cup final, a third duel with Gran Canaria in the Endesa League quarterfinals and a fifth against Joventut. To this is added the protocol celebrations after the conquest of the Euroleague, the training sessions and the trips. Barça has only played three fewer (85), but Madrid has been hurt more by a season finale in which they have had to pull a shorter rotation due to injuries when there was a higher volume of matches. There have been Vincent Porier… and Gabriel Deck. Mirotic’s natural pairing. Things that, in the end, cannot be controlled.