2016-17Regular SeasonRound 27
Real Madrid 85
FC Barcelona Lassa 69
March 22, 2017 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 WIZINK CENTER

Madrid handles Barcelona, secures top four finish

Real Madrid led from start to finish and secured home-court advantage in the playoffs by downing archrival and previously eliminated FC Barcelona Lassa 85-69 on Wednesday night in the Spanish capital. Madrid improved to 20-7 and sits in first place, while Barcelona dropped to 10-17. Madrid took control of this el Clasico from the start, but pulled away for good with a 16-5 run in the second quarter. Barcelona remained in the game, hitting 14 three-pointers on 25 attempts on the night, but never came closer than 8 points. Sergio Llull had a masterful performance in the first three quarters, netting 21 points along with 6 assists, 3 blocks and 2 steals, for a career-high performance index rating of 32. He did not play in the fourth quarter. Gustavo Ayon finished with 14 points and Anthony Randolph scored 13. Luka Doncic overcame an injury scare in the first half, and returned to the game for an all-around performance of 5 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. For Barcelona Ante Tomic amassed 12 points and 10 rebounds, Tyrese Rice netted 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from three-point land and Petteri Koponen had 11 points in defeat.

Madrid opened the game with threes from Randolph and Jeffrey Taylor. Stratos Perperoglou scored a pair of baskets for Barcelona, and Koponen nailed couple triples, but Llull had a three-pointer and three-point play as Madrid opened a double-digit lead and led 22-13 after 10 minutes. Barcelona got a boost from its young center Moussa Diagne, who pulled down 7 rebounds in a short span, while threes from Alex Renfroe and Aleksandar Vezenkov cut the margin to 22-20. Rice also hit a three-pointer for the visitors, but Othello Hunter had two dunks and Doncic went coast-to-coast for one of his own. Gustavo Ayon had a three-point play to restore a 10-point lead, 35-25, before Barcelona head coach Georgios Bartzoka got ejected for his second technical foul. Llull made a long buzzer-beating circus triple for a 41-27 halftime advantage. After the break it rained threes. First Randolph and Brad Oleson traded shots behind the arc, then Rice and Llull each hit a pair. Oleson’s second three followed by Rice’s third made it 55-47. But Carroll also hit from downtown, and Ayon added three close-range baskets, helping Madrid to a 64-51 lead after three quarters. At the start of the fourth, Randolph, Ayon and Trey Thompkins extended the lead to 76-57 with six minutes left. There was not more coming back for Barcelona, even though Juan Carlos Navarro, Victor Claver and Oleson all hit from long range before the final buzzer.

Sergio Llull - Real Madrid - EB16
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; MOGULKOC, EMIN; KOLJENSIC, MILOS
Attendance: 11759
By Quarter1234
Real Madrid22192321
FC Barcelona Lassa13142418
End of Quarter1234
Real Madrid22416485
FC Barcelona Lassa13275169
Real Madrid
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 RANDOLPH, ANTHONY 22:22 13 3/4 2/6 1/3 1 4 5 1 1 1     3 2 11
4 DRAPER, DONTAYE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5 FERNANDEZ, RUDY 18:59 2 1/1 0/5             1     3   -7
7 DONCIC, LUKA 20:42 5 2/3 0/2 1/2 2 4 6 4 3         5 19
8 MACIULIS, JONAS 20:06 2 1/1 0/2   1 3 4 3 1       2   6
9 REYES, FELIPE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 AYON, GUSTAVO 25:47 14 6/8   2/3 2 3 5 3   2     3 2 16
20 CARROLL, JAYCEE 23:46 8 1/2 2/7     2 2 1 1 3   1 5 1 -2
21 HUNTER, OTHELLO 13:55 8 3/5   2/2 2 3 5 1 1 1     2 1 11
23 LLULL, SERGIO 25:36 21 3/5 4/7 3/3 1 2 3 6 2 2 1   1 7 32
33 THOMPKINS, TREY 17:38 9 1/1 2/3 1/2 1 2 3 1         1 1 11
44 TAYLOR, JEFFERY 11:09 3   1/2             1     3   -2
Team           1   1               1
Totals 200:00 85 21/30 11/34 10/15 11 23 34 20 9 11 1 1 23 19 96
        70% 32.4% 66.7%
Head coach: LASO, PABLO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
FC Barcelona Lassa
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 MUNFORD, XAVIER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2 RICE, TYRESE 29:43 12 0/4 4/5     1 1 4   2       4 14
10 CLAVER, VICTOR 28:09 5 1/2 1/3   1 6 7 2 1 3     2 2 9
11 NAVARRO, JUAN CARLOS 16:55 4 0/1 1/3 1/1       1   3       2 1
14 VEZENKOV, SASHA 12:09 3 0/1 1/2                   1 2 2
20 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 5:51   0/1                     1 1 -1
21 DIAGNE, MOUSSA 10:30 1 0/2   1/2 2 5 7     2   1 4 2  
24 OLESON, BRAD 12:21 9   3/3         2 1       3 1 10
25 KOPONEN, PETTERI 22:04 11 1/2 3/6         1 1 2     1 1 7
32 RENFROE, ALEX 12:02 5 1/1 1/2     1 1 2   1     1   5
33 PERPEROGLOU, STRATOS 21:04 7 3/6 0/1 1/3   2 2 1         3 2 3
44 TOMIC, ANTE 29:12 12 3/5   6/10 3 7 10 2   5 1   3 5 16
Team           1 1 2               2
Totals 200:00 69 9/25 14/25 9/16 7 23 30 15 3 18 1 1 19 22 68
        36% 56% 56.3%
Head coach: BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS

Head Coaches

LASO, PABLO
Real Madrid
"Congratulations to the guys. The beginning of the match was good, both from an offensive and defensive point of view. We moved the ball wel, and got good shots. That made us more relaxed. We opened an advantage in the second quarter with three-pointers and had 14 points at the break. We defended the worst in the third quarter, but we kept working, solved the problems and got the easy win, which is not easy against a team with such quality. We wanted to have home-court advantage, we did it with three games to go, and I want to congratulate the guys on the goal and the work that we started on back in the October. I don’t think we had a brilliant game, but a solid one. We did not make many mistakes, we managed to get rebounds and found open players with an extra pass. I have a feeling we had a lot of control in our game. Maybe for the viewers it is more spectacular to score, score, score, but from a coach’s perspective, I am happy how we played in this match from the beginning."
BARTZOKAS, GEORGIOS
FC Barcelona Lassa
"Congratulations to Madrid on its victory. For us, the next game is important like any other game. We have to focus on the next game. We are still motivated. We have a difficult season, many things happened on our team this season. Somehow we have to overcome all the difficult circumstances and go on. With so many injuries we had this season, it is obvious we could not find chemistry. We had 12 or 14 injuries. Even today we played without Justin Doellman and Vitor Faverani. We don’t have an opportunity to reach the playoffs in EuroLeague anymore, but we have the Spanish League. Not every season can be successful. All teams have bad times, last season Madrid got swept by Fenerbahce; Barcelona and Olympiacos did not reach the playoffs. But then teams have to make conclusions; have to take lessons and go on. That is what I believe."

Players

LLULL, SERGIO
Real Madrid
"We are happy for the win and for locking up the home-court advantage in the playoffs, which is very important for us. I think that the team did a very good job from the beginning of the game. We were really focused and did not allow them to get in the game. We have to think about Olympiacos now. They may be a bit sad for their elimination, but in the end, a Clasico is always a special game. We knew we had to win at home, in front of our fans, to get the home-court advantage in the playoffs – and we did it. It is another small goal in our bag and that calms you down a bit, but we have to try to keep working like we did until now and win as many games as possible to reach as high as possible. When you are in the EuroLeague playoffs, especially in this EuroLeague, there are no preferences. The last-ranked team can beat the top team, as has happened. Those opponents from fifth to eighth will be very good teams."