Monaco and Barça had a ridiculous second half
Collective basketball wins games, so Olympiacos and Real Madrid are reaching the EuroLeague finals again. Even if Monaco and FC Barcelona looked strong in the first half of the semifinals, they melted like ice in the second part. Why? How was it possible that scoring aces like Mike James, Elie Okobo and Jordan Loyd led Monaco to only 2 points scored during the 3rd quarter?
27-2 for Olympiacos, what a blow in the third stanza, one of the moments in basketball history that should be studied in schools to teach young players the difference between a very organized team and a selfish bunch of guys without any guidance. The worst thing that can happen in basketball, is to receive too many points, while you score almost nothing. Where have all the amazing players of Monaco disappeared after the break? Selfish, chaotic, helpless against a true powerhouse like Olympiacos, a team that can control their individualities, taking the best of them and dissolving it in a group effort and sacrifice.
The other semifinal was a huge opportunity lost by Barca in front of their archrivals from Madrid. Barca had all the advantages: they were coming after a good end of the regular season, the crowd of Lithuanian fans was with them, and Real Madrid had important missing (Yabusele, Poirier, Deck). But still, FC Barcelona didn’t look like a team, they collapsed in front of their opponents in a pathetic way, finding no way to score. The best-paid EuroLeague player had his first points in the last minutes of the game? The post-game excuses don’t help anybody. Mirotic and company made an extremely bad basketball, if we can name basketball their horrible acting on the court.
The article was written by Gratian Cormos, a Romanian journalist, book writer, life coach and mentor currently living in Barcelona, Spain.
If you are interested in collaborating with his website brainbasketball.net, in order to publish articles, interviews or other features related to basketball, feel free to contact Gratian Cormos by Whatsapp or Telegram at this Spanish number: +34 612414486.
Photo credit: EuroLeague
