The Palau Blaugrana witnessed a Clásico to remember on Thursday night as Barça beat Real Madrid 72-65 in a crunch Euroleague Top16 game. The home side stormed into a sublime 25-4 lead after the first period, yet things managed to even out towards the end. The game went down to the wire, with the packed Palau hitting fever pitch, but Barça managed to win through The result now leaves Barça not depending on the outcome of other results in the bid for a place in the quarter finals.
Yes, it was 25-4 after the first ten minutes. Barça Lassa dominated simply everything. Satoransky and Doellman set things going and other than a couple from Reyes, Madrid got nothing out of the first seven minutes. With a 16-0 streak included, there was only one team on the court.
With absolute command of defensive rebounds, Barça were in complete control of the play … and the Palau was a crescendo of sound with every score. Madrid could find no reaction and Barça punished them severely for it. Even when the visitors did start scoring, Barça had little trouble cancelling things out at the other end to maintain the lead at around the 20 mark.
Visiting reaction
Two consecutive threes from Llull were the first sign of trouble, but Barça Lassa seemed well at ease as the half-time interval approached. Yet somehow or other, Madrid started scrambling back more and more points - enough to cut the deficit to 12 points at the break (40-28).
The second half began with the all-whites looking a lot more confident. They decided that 3-pointers were the only way back, and the plan worked. All of a sudden, they were back to within one point (52-51). Barça had let a massive lead slip, and yet they were still in charge, and the Palau knew that only too well.
