FCBARCELONA.CAT

27.09.2009 20:02

First of the season (38-62)

Sònia de Alba

Regal Barça won their 13th Catalan League by beating DKV Joventut by 24 points. Ricky Rubio won his first title at the club and was named MVP of the final.

It was no classic, but Regal FC Barcelona won the title despite looking a little rusty at times, partly because the internationals only returned two days ago. FCB got off to an awful start but gradually made amends and eventually won their 13th Catalan League at a canter, and stay on top of the all-time winners list.

Ricky Rubio was named MVP as he begins to show signs of adaptation to his new team, and in a complicated game that pitted him against his former colleagues.

Barça only had Rubio and Sada as point guards, as Lakovic is still injured, and watched the game from the sidelines along with Lubos Barton. Club president Joan Laporta was among the onlookers celebrating Regal Barça’s first title of the season.

La Penya accelerate

The green and blacks started strong. Hernández-Sonseca was on top on the paint and Tucker and Tripkovic excelled as they stormed into a 10 point lead. Pascual rotated his bench, and when Ricky, applauded by both sets of fans, and Navarro set foot on the Sant Jordi court, the storyline changed. It was all looking much better, and the period ended with an ‘alley-hoop’ from Fran Vázquez laid on by Rubio, on the back of a Morris three that meant from 18-8 it was suddenly 18-13.

Barça bounce back

Ricky made a huge difference, as did Basile’s defensive job on Tucker. The effect was a whole period in which Joventut barely scored, and a 14-0 streak put Barça on top at last (20-22).

Tripkovic led the Badalona reaction, but Basile responded with a triple, and then Lorbek and Ndong, the latter on the buzzer, left things at 23-31 going into the break.

Low scoring

Regal Barça then stretched their lead to eleven (25-36), with Joventut missing almost everything. By the end of the first half hour, both sides had a miserable 30% in field goal attempts (equally pathetic records of 13/42), and the score stayed as startlingly low as 32-37.

With neither side’s offence particularly impressing, it was Barça that at least managed to add up the points. Some flashes of brilliance from Ricky Rubio were enough to win him the MVP award, while some spectacular smashes from Boniface Ndong and clever handiwork from Xavi Rabaseda also contributed to the final result of 38-62.