Last summer Barça opted to start over in the basketball section. Roger Grimau’s project, without titles in its first season, did not get a second chance and general manager Juan Carlos Navarro decided to take a turn both on the bench, with Joan Peñarroya in charge, and in the squad, renewed with up to five signings . Near the halfway point of this season, the Blaugrana have not taken the expected step forward, but rather two steps back, and this Sunday (8:30 p.m.) they face a decisive classic against Real Madrid.
Winning at WiZink is vital for the Blaugrana to enter the next edition of the Copa del Rey, with five games remaining in the first round of the Endesa League. If they suffer another defeat, Barça risks being left out of the cup tournament for the first time in their history. The precedents against the whites do not invite optimism, Barça defeated the last five games, two this year, in the Super Cup and more recently in the Euroleague.
The lack of fluidity in attack, with an excessive prominence of the three-point shot, is combined with a defense that is too passive that often suffers disconnections
The feelings of both teams do not bode well for the Catalan team either. Madrid started the season hesitantly, even worse than its eternal rival, but in recent weeks it has won prestigious victories thanks to a desired solidity in a Barça adrift that has added ten defeats in the last 16 games, a period in which who has only chained two wins in a row.
The latest example of the culé’s disarray was seen in the recent defeat against Red Star (74-78) in the Euroleague, a competition where Peñarroya’s team is outside the playoff zone after the first round. Barça has the same victories as defeats, a total of nine, and its figures are much worse than those achieved by the team coached last year by Grimau, which finished the regular phase with 12 defeats and in fourth place. The Blaugrana are now eleventh and are on their way to approaching the club’s worst record in the top European competition with the current format, 19 defeats in the 2017-18 season.
Kevin Punter forced a throw against Joel Bolomboy in the match against Red Star.
Far from improving as the weeks go by, something common in projects with many changes, Barça has entered a spiral of poor results and worse and worse team performance on the hardwood. Against the Serbians, a team with a lot of talent that has known how to assemble all the pieces, the Blaugrana were helpless in the face of the good and intense rival defense and their only response was individual actions in situations, most of which were very forced. As an example, Punter’s last two decisive plays, one ended in a foul in attack and the final one a lost ball that confirmed the defeat. The lack of fluidity in attack, with an excessive prominence of the three-point shot, is combined with a defense that is too passive that often suffers disconnections and gives easy shots to opponents.
Palau fans have only seen aimless lurches in the last two years, both in the offices and on the court.
Barça has made two changes on the bench and nine signings in the last two seasons, in addition to the occasional incorporations of Ricky Rubio, already out of the team, and Raul Neto, replacement for the injured Laprovittola. Willy Hernangómez, Jabari Parker, Darío Brizuela and Joel Parra arrived last year and this year Kevin Punter, Justin Anderson, Chimezie Metu, Youssoupha Fall and Juan Núñez joined. Except for Parker, none of the new faces has performed at the expected level on a regular basis, only in sporadic performances. Only Satoransky, Abrines, Vesely and Laprovittola, absent this season due to injury, are the only players who remain from the 2022-23 Endesa League champion squad, the last title in the section. Since then, Palau fans have only seen aimless lurches, both in the offices and on the court. A defeat against Madrid could cause another swerve on the bench into the unknown.
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