Real Madrid downs Barça in Supercopa Endesa

While most of Europe was tipping off the start of their leagues, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona were squaring off in the finals of the “Supercopa de España de Baloncesto 2013”, Spain’s annual pre-season Supercup. In the 2013 edition, Real Madrid held off a late challenge by Barça to repeat their win from 2012, also over Barcelona.

In the 22 times Madrid and Barcelona have met in ACB title matches (Endesa League, Copa del Rey, and Super Endesa), this was Madrid’s 10th title, compared to 12 for Barcelona, but Madrid is on a three title run having taken the 2012-13 Super Endesa over FC Barcelona (95–84), the 2012-13 Endesa League series from Barça (3-2), and now the repeat performance in the Super Endesa. The last time Barcelona defeated Real Madrid in a championship was for the 2011-12 Endesa League title (3 games to 2).

Madrid opened the title competition running off eight unanswered after Barça’s Ante Tomic put the first points on the board. Nikola Mirotic knocked down a jumper and a triple to open up Madrid’s account with the scorekeeper and start the run. Sergio Llull sliced the cords with a long-ball to give Madrid a seven-point advantage as the seventh minute started. Rudy Fernandez connected from behind the arc and Ioannis Bourousis dropped jumper to push Madrid’s lead to 10, 23:13, with two minutes to play in the first 10. After a jumper from Barça’s Marcelo Huertas, Tremmell Darden knocked down a three-ball to give Madrid their biggest lead of the frame, 26:15. Felipe Reyes closed out the first frame with his first points of the contest to give Madrid a 29:21 advantage.

The clubs exchanged baskets for the first two minutes and then there was an exchange between Madrid’s Jaycee Carroll and Barça’s Victor Sada. As Marcus Slaughter was taking the ball to the hole for Madrid, Sada forced Carroll out of bounds on the side and into advertising banners. Carroll got up and pushed Sada causing him to fall and setting off a mini-brawl. Order was quickly restored, but the altercation resulted in a technical foul on Sada, two personal fouls and an ejection of Carroll. Barcelona ran off seven straight after the incident to pull within three, 35:32. Reyes split a pair of singles for Madrid and then Barça’s Brad Oleson knocked down a triple to bring his squad to within on, 36:35. A 7:1 run that was capped off with another Oleson three-ball gave Barcelona their first lead of the contest, 42:41, since the first two points Tomic put down to open the game. Sergio Rodriquez closed the books on the first half with a jumper to give Madrid a 46:44 margin as the clubs headed to the dressing rooms for the mid-game break.

Alejandro Abrines put Barcelona back on top with a three-pointer to get things started in the third quarter. The Barça advantage was short-lived as the Whites ran off eight unanswered to get up 53:47. For the rest of the third 10 the squads exchanged baskets with Madrid setting up with fourth quarter with a seven-point lead, 63:56.

Madrid tallied the first four of the final frame to extend their advantage to 11, 67:56 on Rodriguez’s 10th point of the contest. Ante scored the next six point of the quarter for either team over a two-minute stretch to pull to Barça within five, 67:62. At the end of a 10:2 run, Madrid’s lead had been reduced to three, 69:66. As the clock wound down, Antic pulled Barcelona to within two, 77:75. Rodriquez went three of four from the line as Barcelona resorted to fouling to put players on the line, giving Madrid an 80:75 advantage with 22 seconds to play. Konstantinos Papanikolaou connected on a pair of free throws to bring the contest back to a single possession game, but Rodriquez split a pair of singles to push the lead to four, 81:77. Huertas hit a quick jumper to pull Barça to within two, 81;79, but Mirotic connected on a pair to put the game on ice with two seconds to play, giving Madrid an 83:79 victory and their second consecutive Supercopa Endesa.

Sergio Rodriquez was named Cup MVP after an 18-point performance in the finals and 14 points (28 evaluation) in the semi-finals against Bilbao.

Mirotic lead Madrid with 20 points, Rodriquez hit 18, Fernande dropped in 12, and Darden scored 11.

Tomic was game-high with 21, Huertas added 17.

The 34 match Liga Endesa tips off on October 12.