Liga Endesa: Real Madrid goes up 2-1 on Barça

CJ Wallace gets into position a bit late to take a charge from Nikola Mirotic under the basket during Game 3 of the Liga Endesa Finals.

Real Madrid got 20 points from Felipe Reyes and 18 from Nikola Mirotic on Friday as they picked up a 72:84 win on the road to go up 2-1 in their best of five game Liga Endesa Finals series against FC Barcelona Regal. Juan Carlos Navarro tallied 20 for Barcelona.

Game 4 will be held in Barcelona on Sunday.

The clubs opened the contest slowly, with little scoring early on. As the fourth minute ticked off Navarro dropped in a double to knot the score at 6. Mirotic got an assist from Sergio Llull and connected on a jumper. Then Llull hit Tremmell Darden for a triple and followed with a deuce of his own to put the visitors up 6:13. Navarro snapped the seven-point run with a jumper, but Reyes sliced the defense with a lay-up shortly after to regain the margin. Barça went 5:2 in the last two minutes on five singles to cut the gap to four at the end of the first, 13:17.

CJ Wallace knocked down a long-ball to open scoring in the second for the hosts and pull them to within a point, 16:17. Reyes hit a pair of singles, then Sarunas Jasikevicius buried a pair of consecutive jumpers to give Barcelona the lead, 20:19. Sergio Rodriguez gave Madrid the advantage back, but then Jasikevicius found his range from behind the arc and sliced the cords for a triple. Shortly after Madrid started on a 4:12 scoring run that took them from knotted at 25, to up 29:37. Jasikevicius and Navarro were able to reduce the deficit to four, 35:39, then a jumper by Mizra Begic closed the book on the first half with the guests up 35:41 at the mid-game break.

They exchanged baskets through the first half of the third 10, then Barça ran off eight unanswered to take a one-point advantage, 46:45. With just over two minutes to play in the third frame Reyes split a pair of singles to tie the game at 48-all. Jaycee Carroll also split two freebies for Madrid to put the guests up a point, 48:49. Carroll connected on a pair shortly after, with Llull following up on the next trip down the court with a jumper to put Madrid up five, 48:53. Jasikevicius hit a pair from the line to pull back to within three, but Llull dropped a long-ball to send the clubs into the fourth 10 with Madrid holding a six-point lead, 50:56.

Madrid pushed their advantage to nine early in the fourth off five points from Reyes and a deuce from Marcus Slaughter. Navarro knocked down a three-pointer, and was followed by a pair of doubles from Ante Tomic to reduce the gap to four as they took a break for a television timeout with just under five minutes to play. Darden connected on a pair of free throws, then hit a jumper after a Navarro lay-up to keep the guests up six, 63:69. Navarro hit a jumper to claw back to four down, 65:69 with four minutes to play. The 37th minute was a long-ball shootout with Llull dropping the first, then Navarro countered, followed-up by Mirotic. When the dust had settled, Madrid found themselves up seven, 68:75, with just over three minutes on the clock. Both Wallace and Tomic split pairs of singles, losing valuable points late in the contest, but cutting the lead to five, 70:75. Mirotic put his mark on the contest with a jumper inside the arc, then a triple for his 14th point and the biggest Madrid lead of the night at 10, 70:80, with a minute to play. Mirotic got the final four points for the guests at the line, and Barcelona wouldn’t tally any more, giving Madrid Game 3 and a 2-1 advantage. They’ll try to close out the Championship on Sunday in Game 4.

Reyes tied for game-high with Barça’s Navarro, but Reyes also ended with a valuation of 26 on the contest. Mirotic hit 18 points and closed with a 19 valuation. Llull tallied 12 points in the win.

Navarro led Barcelona with 20 points, Jasikevicius hit 13, and Tomic added 10.