What FC Barcelona needed in order to beat Real Madrid yesterday?
The Final of the Spanish Supercup was an interesting derby, very tied since the beginning till the end. Both teams had their chance to seal the victory, but in the end, when Barca had the biggest margin 56-50 they fell inexplicably allowing the opponents an important run. During those minutes, the Catalan team was not able to respond, committing mistakes on both sides of the court. Even so, they had the chance to win, but Mirotic and Davies missed crucial free-throws in the last minutes.
I will analyze here what FC Barcelona needed in order to secure the win against Real Madrid:
- the absences of Cory Higgins and Kyle Kuric were more than important for the Catalans. Many times during the game FC Barcelona needed the good hand of these two 3 point shooters. Higgins and Kuric are also vital for the ball movement and to create space in offense.
- FC Barcelona has no true center except Brandon Davies. The departure of Ante Tomic left a hole on that position in the Azulgrana roster. Walter Tavares was so dominant in the paint, not by scoring points or rebounding but because his presence improved a lot Real Madrid’s defense. The absence of a big guy caused a lot of trouble for FC Barcelona and allowed Real Madrid to defend better on the perimeter.
- Nick Calathes has to understand that shooting from the arc is not his great ability. He is an excellent passer, he penetrates the defense, scoring easy lay-ups, the 3 point line is not for him. When 7 seconds are left on the shot-clock, make a pick-and-roll and try to penetrate instead of shooting desperately a ridiculous 3 pointer.
- Nikola Mirotic (2.08 m) couldn’t defend the much smaller Gabriel Deck (1.98 m). It was a bad decision to try that. Deck is smaller and his speed is double than Mirotic’s one, a fact that caused a lot of damages in the 1st quarter. I think Mirotic could defend better Tavares than Deck, while Oriola could defend better Deck than Tavares. Jasikevicius choice to protect Mirotic from personal fouls was not so inspired, since he committed 2 fouls early in the first quarter.
- In the 4th quarter, Mirotic had some childish acts, losing the ball like a rookie, missing some easy shots. I think he was too selfish and forgot to play organized and with the team, for the team. He asked for imaginary fouls when he actually lost the ball, stolen by Campazzo. Mirotic is a great talent, but he has to focus more. Maybe bringing in another big man in the Barca’s roster, will make him play better.
