If in Euroleague Barça remained one triumph from lifting the trophy in Cologne, in the domestic sphere its dominance was incontestable with the conquest of the titles of Endesa League Y Cup.
The start of the season did not presage that level of success after giving up in the Super Cup and in the Catalan League, but the Barça team grew as the season progressed and reaped the fruits in the second half of the season.
The Cup was played in the WiZink Center of Madrid without public. The Catalans had had problems to overcome the Unicaja in the quarterfinals (103-93 after extra time) but they had no mercy in the semifinals of the Baskonia (77-68) and they were much superior in the final at Madrid (73-88).
They dominated from start to finish with some differences that allowed them to play with a high level of success and without so much pressure. Madrid arrived with many physical problems and the losses of Randolph, Taylor Y Rudy Fernández, and shortly after Campazzo I would have packed my bags to try my luck in the NBA. The whites only made four baskets in the first quarter and conceded a 0-14 in that phase that left them already definitely touched. The Barça guard Cory Higgins won the MVP trophy.
In the long-distance race that was the regular league of the League, the Madrid he finished first with a spectacular record of 34 victories and only two defeats. The Barça He finished second at 32-4, both far behind his pursuers.
In a playoff reduced to a maximum of three games in all rounds by adjustments of a season of lows, the Barça beat Joventut in the quarterfinals after losing in Badalona (72-63) and having to win in the tiebreaker in the Palau (94-73). In the semis they also beat Lenovo three games with a final victory at the Palau 89-72.
The final, curiously, did not reach the tiebreaker and ended with a double victory for Barça, both in the WiZink (75-89) as in the Blaugrana (92-73). Reinforcing Pau Gasol, incorporated at the end of the course, not only underpinned the internal rotation of the men of Jasikevicius rather, it gave a quality bonus in the attack and rebound game to a team already endowed with many qualities and talent.
Nikola Mirotic, leading scorer of the Barça, it ended as Mvp. He finished the decisive game with 27 points, five rebounds and a PIR of 35 with a fabulous shooting series, and the pressure was finally removed by appearing the moment he was most needed.
The 2020-21 campaign was one of empty stands and silences, an unusual situation that deprived the Barça fans of being able to vibrate with the triumphs of a winning team like that of the great eras. Only in the final stretch of the season the restrictions were relaxed somewhat, allowing the entrance of the public in some pavilions with sufficient capacity to allow distance.
It was like this in the Olympic of Badalona, where the fans could once again vibrate with the Penya in the second game of that quarterfinal playoff with the Barça, just as he had done with two games of Eurocup (Partizan Y Venice) early in the season.
The green and black, who lost in the quarterfinals of this European competition against Virtus, took another step in their progression in the League by finishing in seventh place in the regular phase (20-16).
Barça stayed one step away from the perfect season. Only the talent of Anadolu Efes kept him from getting his third Euroleague and thus signing a brilliant hat-trick in the first season of Sarunas Jasikevicius at the head of the team. The Turkish team, the best in Europe in recent years, received the well-deserved award for its recent career, beating the Catalans in the final in Cologne 86-81.
Despite the limping condition of Nick Calathes, who played despite injuring an ankle in the semifinals, Barça started that final very well and moved up ten points in the second quarter (25-15). But from there the team was blocked and gave the initiative to Efes who turned the game around with a 4-21 run. The talent of Vasilje Micic (25 points) and Shane Larkin (21) took off at Efes in the third quarter (41-52) but Barça shot with pride to recover their options in the last quarter (69-69, 72-72) .
However, Larkin and Micic reappeared in the final stretch to take off slightly at Efes, who knew how to keep their income in the final minutes despite the attacks from Barça.
The Catalans had beaten Armani Milan in the semifinals of the Final Four in Cologne thanks to an outside shot from Cory Higgins two seconds from the end (84-84.
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