The "huge beer" of Chus Mateo and the inexplicable night of Mirotic

There is no middle ground after a classic, even less at the heights of a Final Four. The joy of Real Madrid was as disproportionate as the desolation of Barça last night in the bowels of the Zalgirio Arena. That have the expectations. This time they were on the Barça side, on the way to Kaunas, because of the desire for revenge and even because of the health of their squad in contrast to that of their rival.

And even because of how the triples entered him in the first half (9 of 14). «If you let us live, if you don't finish us…». Chus Mateo was never seen so full as after the umpteenth feat of his boys. The Madrid coach has achieved the most difficult yet in a few days, raising from the ashes a group of players who are now at the gates of history: on Sunday (7:00 p.m., DAZN) he can win Real's Eleventh European Cup Madrid.

Mateo distributed praise to his pupils, to the “trilero” Sergio Rodríguez – “when he takes out his crutch and starts fighting…” -, author of nine points of run in the decisive section, again as lethal as in the fifth against Partizan. In a few days he turns 37, who knew. Of course, towards the Tavares factor: “Without his friend Poirier, it’s important that he stays on the court for 39 minutes. Everything revolves around him”. And even for that Eli Ndiaye who, now forever, will be the center that Chus Mateo launched to stardom.

But the eternal assistant, the guy who has endured criticism and scorn, the coach who is still not sure if he will continue on the bench next season, did not want to put medals or settle accounts. He just wanted to enjoy the moment. “The beer I’m going to drink afterwards with my staff is going to be enormous,” he said. And he analyzed a triumph that was cemented, once again, in the resilience of his boys after the break. “We knew how to wait for the moment. They would end up missing and we had to be attentive to the rebound. And not go crazy. After that, the window opened wide and we had the ability to suffer again.. I’m very happy with the chemistry my players have achieved,” he said.

And he also spoke of his three gladiators, the ability of Rudy, Llull and Chacho to dominate “the rhythm” in the closing stages. “They were fresh because they had played shortly before,” he joked.

Jasikevicius

All those smiles clashed squarely with the azulgrana duel. There was the aroma of the end of a cycle, even if Jasikevicius did not want to talk about his future. The Lithuanian, three Final Four in a row without success, did not hesitate to take all the blame: “I have to look at why we have not played as a team and why I have not known how to calm my guys down.” “It’s a very hard stick. It’s going to hurt not only now, but for many years to come. I think the team had a good dynamic, but today it wasn’t like that. Words are superfluous now. We have to pick ourselves up and finish the season winning the league. It’s not going to be easy,” he confessed, before taking the heat off the unlucky night of his star player: “Mirotic? People are human and can have bad days.. It can happen to everyone.”

But the Montenegrin had no consolation. Without Deck and Yabusele in front of him, his night at the Zalgirio Arena was disastrous. He missed seven three-pointers and a key free throw in crunch time. His first and only basket came in the 37th minute. “It was a disaster from start to finish. And I can’t explain why. Without a doubt, the toughest day of my career.”