First-place curse and Mirotic's loneliness: Barcelona suffer another Final Four debacle / News - Basketnews.com

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FC Barcelona's defeat by Real Madrid in the Final Four semifinal in Belgrade adds to a series of black nights for the Catalan side against their eternal rivals.

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Barca have suffered three consecutive setbacks in the penultimate step of the top continental basketball competition. Of course, it should be noted that on none of these occasions, the winner of the El Clasico managed to win the title.

For Barcelona, the 83-86 loss to Madrid is a wound that will not be easy to heal for both the team and the Blaugrana fans.

Looking back, the disappointment is even bigger just because the team was working like a well-oiled machine for the better part of the season and headed to Belgrade with the sole purpose of lifting the trophy. But Belgrade isn't Paris 2010 when the Catalan powerhouse dominated the competition.

For any team, leaving the EuroLeague behind is complicated, especially when fans and players felt like it was their turn to win the trophy.

However, what makes this Final Four failure a hard pill to swallow for Barca is the fact that Real Madrid was the team that won the duel. For at least two months, Los Blancos were collecting consecutive losses on all fronts.

When it mattered the most, Pablo Laso's squad broke the five-game losing streak against the team that had gotten the best of them until Thursday night.

"We weren't ready to sacrifice. I missed a lot of extra professionalism and just sacrificing," coach Sarunas Jasikevicius said in the post-game presser.

The Lithuanian tactician called the result a huge disappointment, pointing out that Barca were the better team, despite not making the final.

However, the main issue that Saras addressed was his team's lack of 'killer instinct.' Barca were up by eleven points (54-43) halfway through the third quarter. However, Real Madrid got back in contention thanks to Fabien Causeur's seven points in less than five minutes.

Player of the Game EFF 24 Guerschon Yabusele Points 18 Accuracy 6-9 Rebounds 8 Assists 1

"We're always talking with this team about the killer instinct. In the last two years, I've been with the team, we haven't been able to finish out any series, except for a 2-0 lead we had against Madrid last year," Jasikevicius said.

"We lost a lot of deciding games. We went to five games with Zenit. We're not killers," Saras went on to argue.

"Guys, there's some press from Barcelona here. They've already heard this song I've been singing for a year and a half. It's more of the same. It's difficult to accept it for me, there's no question," Jasikevicius concluded.

Apart from their inability to do to Zenit or Bayern what Real Madrid did to Maccabi this year - finishing the playoff series in just three games - Barcelona extended a long-standing tradition that tends to become a real curse. No team had won the EuroLeague regular season and captured the title since 2016, when the new format was introduced.

Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Fenerbahce, and Barcelona have tasted the bitterness of watching their entire season go to waste within 40 minutes.

For Barca, that was the second time they couldn't build on their excellent regular season results and performances. When all goes down to one game, anything can happen.

"I think we played very well and competed, but that third quarter killed us," guard-forward Alex Abrines told BasketNews.

"They made a 26-11 run. We were up by 11 and lost the game by three points. You disconnect for one quarter, and that can change the game."

Abrines saw that Barcelona approached the game with the wrong mentality.

"We weren't mentally strong, couldn't stop them and find our game on offense," he explained.

Guard Nicolas Laprovittola, his team's second scorer with 17 points, told BasketNews that no one on the team was thinking about their winning streak against Madrid.

"From the beginning, we thought it was a new game," the Argentinian guard said. "Those derbies are always special. That's it. They won, and we have to keep going. We got to trust our game going forward."

Regardless of how many people expected it, this time around, Nikola Mirotic was the season MVP that fans and media saw in him. The Montenegrin forward led Barca in points (26) and rebounds (12) whilst registering a staggering 39 in PIR. That PIR is the second-highest at a Final Four game since the turn of the century behind only Shane Larkin’s 43 in the 2019 semifinals.

It was one of the most remarkable performances by any player in a Final Four game and certainly Mirotic's best. The star forward did not shy away when the contest was being decided, contributing to 15 of Barcelona’s fourth-quarter points.

While in the mixed zone, Mirotic could not hide his disappointment, as he was trying to articulate some words in front of the microphone.

"They played much better than us in the second half. They hit more shots than we did. Congratulations to them," is all that he had to say.

But this time, the former NBAer didn't get much help. Scoring-wise, only Nicolas Laprovittola (17 points) and Brandon Davies (15) were up to the task, while Nick Calathes dished out 9 assists.

That's a big issue for any team, let alone someone competing for the EuroLeague trophy. Abrines thinks Barca's woes in the last derby should be put into perspective.

"In the last couple of games in the ACB and the King's Cup, we went point by point. I think that's the way these games are supposed to be. Both teams are strong, and games tend to be close because of the amount of talent on both sides," he added.

"What happened before, with us winning five teams in a row, is not the way it's supposed to be. So, we have to be ready the next time we play them because they're a great team and can beat us every time," he added.

Staying in Belgrade for one more day is exasperating for Barcelona fans and even more so for the team that must play the game that no one wants to play - the one which decides the third and fourth place.

The truth is that the Spanish powerhouse has already played too many games like that throughout their Final Four history.

Ironically, the last time was in 2014, following a blowout defeat to no other than Pablo Laso's Real Madrid. Only in 1996 was the story any different, although the trophy ended up elsewhere.

Abrines makes clear that nobody wants to play that third-place game.

"It's not pretty for the fans or the players," he stressed.

After another disappointment, winning the domestic title - possibly against their main rivals - sounds like a poor consolation for Barca.

However, it would surely be a good way to close the season. After all, they have already won the Copa del Rey.

"We all have domestic leagues to play now," the Spanish international continued. "For us, after the EuroLeague, there's the national leagues."

Barcelona won another regular season in Spain, but if the killer instinct that Saras asks for doesn't show up, they might be in for another upset.

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