It all comes down to Game 5 in Monaco next Tuesday evening
Halftime adjustments proved crucial as Barcelona tied series with Monaco
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3 Min lectura
FC Barcelona avoided elimination with a 79-72 home win over AS Monaco in Game 4 of their best-of-five series. Joan Penarroya's team improved in several key aspects of the game to get the win.
At halftime, Monaco led 35-38, making the most out of Barcelona's poor foul management. Monaco excelled at that, as it picked up 10 fouls and only sent the Azulgrana twice to the foul line. On the other hand, Monaco drew 13 fouls before the break, hitting 18-of-21 free throws. In other words, Barca got 0.2 free throws per foul and Monaco had 1.62 per foul, going to the free-throw line way too often.
Barcelona also struggled to circulate the ball well, finishing the first half with 7 assists and as many as 13 turnovers. Despite not having great shooting percentages (36.4% 2FG, 28.6% 3FG), Monaco managed to build a three-point lead based on points off turnovers and free throws. All of that changed in the second half, in which Barca improved its foul management and took much better care of the ball.
After the break, Barcelona picked up just 8 fouls and only sent Monaco once to the free-throw line compared to its 21 attempts before the break. That's 0.13 free-throw attempts allowed per foul. On the other hand, Barcelona drew 17 fouls in the second half, taking 23 free throws (1.35 per foul drawn). The hosts ended up hitting 24-of-25 free throws (96%), hitting all 10 of its attempts in the final 5 minutes. Jabari Parker and Kevin Punter each buried all 6 of their free-throw attempts.
Barcelona had 9 assists and just 6 turnovers after the break, hitting 8-of-13 two-pointers (61.5% 2FG). Monaco shot the ball much better inside the arc (12 of 20, 60%) but not from three-point territory (3 of 18, 16.7% 3FG), getting 10 second-half turnovers.
"The series is over when a team reaches three wins, and that is what we will try to do in Monaco," head coach Joan Penarroya said after the game.
"It has been a much closer game but I think we deserved the win. We will not play Game 5 to go to the Final Four, so we have to be physically and mentally ready. We have to be ready for any scenario and any kind of game: low-scoring, high-scoring, with a lot of contact or not, it doesn't matter. We have to be calmed enough to face an extremely difficult game. It could not be any other way."