Real Madrid - FCB Regal: One step away from making history (79-71)

The miracle wasn’t possible. History shows that the team that wins the first match of the final series goes on to win the league title. Barça Regal were defeated by Real Madrid in Game 5 of the final series this evening, which means the Blaugrana were unable to reclaim the title they won a year ago.

The fact that Barça Regal managed to take the series to the fifth game says a lot about a team that was missing key players ahead of the final. There’s no doubt that Barça Regal have had a great season.

Saras saves Barça in the first quarter

At the start of the match Barça Regal seemed like the same team from the first two matches of the series. The Blaugrana quickly fell behind Madrid by 10 to 0 in the first moments of the game. Little by little, starting at minute 4, Pascual’s men reacted and Tomic stepped up to lead the team while Sarunas Jasikevicius managed the flow of Barça’s attack. By the end of the first quarter Barça trailed Madrid by only two points (20-18).

Terrible run

Even though Barça Regal took the lead in the second quarter, Real Madrid managed to open up a big lead by the end of the half. Barça were conditioned by the number of team fouls they had committed which stopped them from being as aggressive as they needed to be. Real Madrid took advantage of the situation, and even though Joe Ingles was proving irreplaceable, Madrid rampaged to a 10-0 run by the end of the quarter.

Important advantage

In the second half, Real Madrid killed the game off. They were more aggressive than Barça Regal and the Blaugrana paid for it dearly. In the blink of an eye Laso’s men took a 17-point lead - 50-33 - and Pascual’s men looked as though the game was already over. But by the end of the quarter, Barça Regal, thanks to Ingles, Sada and Jasikevicius, clawed back to within seven points of the lead.

They gave it their all

Nothing can be held against Barça Regal even though they were unable to fight back. They gave it their all until the end, but the 10-point lead Madrid opened simply wasn’t shrinking. Jasikevicius and Ingles brought Barça within five points, but there were only 25 seconds left on the clock. The buzzer blared and Madrid had won the title.