FC Barcelona advances to face Real Madrid in Liga ACB Finals

FC Barcelona completed their three-game sweep of Tecnyconta Zaragoza in the Liga ACB semifinals on Tuesday night with an 81-96 victory in Game 3. The win propels them to the finals, after a two-season absence. They will face off against long-time league rivals, Real Madrid in what should be a rousing El Clasico matchup for the books.

There is little surprise that both Barcelona Lassa and Real Madrid managed to arrange this meeting in the finals. Both clubs finished atop of the Liga ACB standings at the end of the 2018-19 regular season. They ended up one game apart with Real Madrid claiming the top seed with a 30-6 record. Both teams masterfully navigated the quarterfinals and the semis with relative ease and now are ready for a showdown of epic proportions.

Barcelona delivered in impressive fashion in this Game 3 win. Their path to victory was clear and straightforward, bombard their opponents into submission with 3-point shots – and that they did. Barcelona connected on 16-of-38 shots from downtown to provide them with a massive scoring advantage, while Zaragoza struggled to keep in stride, making just 4-of-17 shots from beyond the arc.

Kyle Kuric performed phenomenally as he hit 6-of-7 shots from deep en route to his game-high 27 points to lead Barcelona. Chris Singleton added even more firepower with his 18 points and four 3-pointers. Ante Tomic, was a dangerous threat in the post for them and collected an 11-point, 11-rebound double-double.

Javier Justiz was one rebound short of a double-double performance of his own for Zaragoza, leading the team with an efficient 24 points (10-of-13 shooting from the field) and nine rebounds. Stan Okoye chimed in with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists.

Barcelona now turns their attention to Real Madrid and the Liga ACB finals. Given that these two teams are the most popular clubs in the Spanish league, you can expect fans to come in droves to support their respective teams. The energy will be frenetic and given the up-tempo style both teams like to deploy, we should all be treated to some exciting and fast-paced basketball.