Barça 85-87 Madrid: El Clásico escapes at the death

Barça had to drag themselves back into contention after a bad first half. Nine points behind at half-time evidenced a lack of efficiency, as well as dominance from Los Blancos on the rebound. A 33-42 scoreline at the break wasn't what the hosts wanted, but they were second best to that point. 

Barça reaction

Rudy, Laprovittola, Garuba and Vukcevic were on fire for the visitors, but the second half saw a reaction from the blaugranes. Although things didn't start well, with two three-pointers from Abalde and a free throw that extended the lead (35-49, min 23), the appearance of Mirotic, with eight consecutive points (43-51, min 24), gave some life to Barça. Abrines put Jasikevicius' side right back into contention, and they were just one point behind Madrid at the end of the third period.

Crazy ending

Garuba and Vukcevic kept Real ahead, and with four minutes left, they had opened up a 10-point gap, despite Calathes' best efforts (67-77, min 36). However, just when it seemed that the Clásico was lost, Barça came storming back once more. Mirotic and Higgins helped reduce the deficit to four (74-78, min 38), with the former even putting Barça ahead with 10 seconds left. In the end, a 2 + 1 from Laprovittola gave Real the win at the very end (85-87, min 40).

MATCH DETAILS

Barça, 85
Real Madrid, 87

Barça: Calathes (18), Higgins (21), Sergi Martínez (-), Mirotic (17), Gasol (-) –starters- Davies (2), Kuric (12), Westermann (-), Hanga (2), Smits (7), Abrines (3), Oriola (3).

Madrid: Laprovittola (12), Taylor (1), Abalde (7), Tyus (6), Tavares (4) –starters- Rudy Fernández (13), Garuba (11), Causeur (10), Vukcevic (11), Alocén (-), Llull (7), Carroll (5).

Partials: 15-20, 18-22 (33-42), 24-17 (57-59), 28-28 (85-87).

Officials: Antonio Conde, Juan de Dios Oyón, Martín Caballero.