Barça 97–88 Madrid: First win in the bag

Game one and the blaugranes are ahead in the league play off final thanks to a key 97-88 win over Real Madrid at the Palau Blaugrana. The contest was a tight one and the final quarter was the deciding factor with 7 Barça players scoring more than 10 points. 

Game two will now come on Sunday, also at the Palau, at 6.30pm CEST before the tie moves to Madrid next week. 

Not much between the teams 

The opening quarter saw both teams in great scoring with 13 three pointers (seven for Barça and six for Real Madrid). After falling behind early on, Saras' team came roaring back and two successive three pointers from Sanli gave them a 23-20 at the end of the first period. 

In the second quarter Barça stretched their lead to 37-30 with 14 minutes gone. However, Real Madrid upped the tempo before half time and a late basket from Mario Hezonja saw then lead at the break 50-47.

Final quarter decisive 

The third quarter saw the pace in scoring drop off but Laprovittola was still precise enough from the free throw line to bring Barça level at 54-54. With just one period to come, Barça were in front at 63-60. 

In the final quarter the blaugranes took control and a three pointer from Abrines saw them open up a 10 point lead at 74-64 with seven minutes left. Real Madrid pulled it back to within fie but an impressive 34 points in the final period was enough to wrap up a 97-88 win and give Barça an early lead in the tie.

MATCH STATS 

BARÇA, 97

REAL MADRID, 88

Barça: Laprovittola (19), Satoransky (11), Abrines (10), Vesely (10), Mirotic (14) -starting five- O. Da Silva (10), Paulí, Sanli (14), Kalinic (4), Kuric (3), Jokubaitis (2), Nnaji.

Real Madrid: Williams-Goss (9), Musa (5), Hanga, Yabusele (11), Tavares (15) -starting five- Causeur (2), Rudy Fernández (7), Hezonja (9), Sergio Rodríguez (16), Poirier, Llull (14).