F.C. Barcelona helped by the refs to overcome Zalgiris
Sarunas Jasikevicius said that he cannot speak about the referees of the game played by his team in Barcelona because he doesn’t want to pay later the fine. As nobody can fine me I will speak. The referees helped Barcelona a lot as I expected. That was the reason for my earlier article where I predicted Barcelona to win the game. I was almost sure that if Barcelona will play bad, the 3 guys will be there to support the host team.
In the 1st part of the game, the help was not so necessary because the Spanish team played a bit better. But after the 3rd quarter when Barcelona deflated like a broken ball, the refs had to intervene. And how they did it? No calls of Barcelona fouls and imaginary calls against Zalgiris. No team can resist to that. Zalgiris is not Golden State Warriors. It is a brave team with their limits who made a good game. But if you hunt them constantly, you put them down easily.
Just take a look at the free-throw situation: Zalgiris had 6 from 6 and Barcelona 17 from 26! The referees had to intervene more also because Barcelona didn’t make the given free-throws. If Barcelona would have played better, the refs’ intervention wouldn’t have been so visible. But it was! We all know why: the Final 4 is in Spain, Barcelona waited a lot for this moment, they get rid of Navarro in time to have a chance for another Euroleague title. So they have to be pushed forward by any means!
Gratian Cormos, info@brainbasketball.net
