FC Barcelona Lassa v Real Madrid: Series tied on one each (70-90)

No 3-pointers from Barça in the first period. Four from Real Madrid. Five Barça rebounds. Ten for Madrid. And 12-28 down after ten minutes. That bad start spelled out the day for FC Barcelona, who have lost game two of the best-of-five final series 70-90, which leaves affairs on 1-1 and means the surrender of their home court advantage.

In the third period, Barça managed to get back to 52-57, but errors both in defence and offence crept back into their game and Madrid take the series back home after racking up 90+ scores in both of their outings at the Palau Blaugrana.    

Madrid quickly put the agony of Perperoglou’s dramatic last-second winner in game one behind them. Of their 28 points in the first period, thirteen came from Sergio Llull, including three triples, while only Tomic with six was able to conjure up any kind of response for the home side.

On the quarter hour, Madrid led 16-37 and it was only then that FC Barcelona finally reacted with an 11-0 streak to get back to within nine. The second was Madrid’s lowest scoring period, just 16, while Barça showed a vast improvement in rebounds, but their 2/9 in 3-pointers was leaving a lot to be desired.

Barça managed to raise the intensity of their game after the break, and the scoreboard reflected that. Navarro contributed a trademark three to an 8-5 streak to get to within six at 43-49, and another three, this time from Perperoglou, finally looked to have thrown the game wide open again.

It wasn’t just the result. It was also the way the home side was playing that had the Palau on its feet. And the Madrid side they were facing was but a shadow of its first-half self. The final period ended with Barça well poised to deliver the final damage and take the series to 2-0 (58-66).

But it didn’t happen. Madrid took just six minutes to extend their lead to 62-81 with a 4-15 streak including two triples from Rudy and one from Nocioni. There was no coming back from a difference like that with just four minutes to go. Madrid had gotten their game back just in time and the series now shifts to their court, where Barça are going to need to win at least one of the two games.