Another one I want and can’t from Barcelona to Monaco | Basketball | Sports

Barça is a team that I want and I cannot, a team that has lost the faith and the belief, the game and all ambition. This adds up to debacle after slaughter, blunder after blush as it has recorded seven defeats in the last 10 games, figures as meager as they are laughable for a team which would have aspired to everything before starting the journey, even if its payroll was scaled down. by 20%. History repeated itself in Monaco, a resounding 20-point defeat, and proof that Barca have lost their way, now demanding to correct themselves with the new year as they appear to be in decline.

In true North American style, the Monegasque public only sits down when their team scores the first basket. It’s a tradition, but also a way to allow your team to approach the match with a clear direction. Against Barça, in any case, they sat down early and did so to the rhythm of applause, every time Motiejunas scored from the perimeter. Welcome to the Monegasque spectacle and the grotesquerie of Barça. This, added to Blossomgame’s block and a well-led recital by the electric and skillful Mike James, sent shivers down the spines of Barça, as well as Roger Grimau who shouted from the technical area as he turned red. Perhaps out of anger; maybe out of shame. Among other things because the Blaugrana were scarecrows against rival attacks (10-3 start).

They were late to the pressure, their sizes could not support the rival’s dance and no one said theirs on the rebound, neither in their own ring nor in the opposite one. Another waste, a well-known sensation which explains that this Barça is doubt incarnate, the ugly duckling, the student who arrives at the exam without studying, the suitor who does not understand the clues, the team which falls apart without remission. 27-15 in the first quarter, offset only by two triples from Jabari Parker; all heads bowed, shoulders drooped, and wrists twisted.

In a spiral of bad results and worse basketball games – in the last match they lost by 20 points against Unicaja in ACB – Barça’s players are diminishing as the days go by, because there is no one to take command of the team. missed Mirotic like never before. Laprovittola lacks magnetic power, Parker lacks communication, and little is known about a Satoransky who simply complies. Worse still, Willy Hernangómez – he barely played in Monte-Carlo – presents a very reduced version of what he was, incredible that he was the MVP of the last Eurobasket. So, between losses of the ball (eight until intermission), lack of hurtful rebounds and poor shooting, Monaco licked its lips, a team that delights when given a reel, like Mike James. 47-36 at halftime. Better than that.

Barça tried to regroup, more aggressive in defense and especially expressive from the periphery, but there is no tutía or basketball to spare. Nor patience, not even on the part of a Grimau who has become bitter over the weeks and who took the technique to protest, nervous because his team is not there. It was perhaps the only spring for Barça, who finally put all their efforts in defense and took advantage of James’ misfortune – a slap with the chin from Satoransky opened his head – to come back to eight (54-46). A mirage because Okobo and Diallo explained the opposite, still at 15 points (67-52) with the epilogue to play.

But that didn’t matter. Barça, who lost by 30 points, sank big and didn’t say a word as they fell from the bottom to the top, still in tow and without complaining, a joke for Monaco. A slap that plunges into Barça’s crisis and demands that he go to the market, while pointing the finger at Grimau. This Barça is going from bad to worse.

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