Barcelona triumph over rivals Real Madrid to return to ACB summit

With the gift of Baskonia's defeat in the morning for both teams, 'El Clasico' took on special importance for one of the two teams to return to the top of the standings alongside the Basque team.

Madrid head coach Chus Mateo came out without a pure point guard to be able to attack the rim with more muscle and also to cover his own basket with physical power, although the lack of a director led to more turnovers than usual.

Barcelona took advantage of this early on, with plenty of space to shoot from medium and long distance comfortably and soon took the lead with a good start from Jan Vesely.

But midway through the first quarter and partly due to Cory Higgins' injury, Barça head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius opted for the 'small ball' tactic and wanted to give his counterpart on the Madrid bench a challenge by putting three small players on the court.

It didn't work out well for him, as this made Mario Hezonja look like he was playing against children and was the protagonist of a 15-2 run that saw Los Blancos finish with a seven-point lead.

Musa provides instant impact

This lead did not last long either as the Catalan team improved and opted for more inside play with the entry of Sertac Sanli and the brilliant leadership of Satoranksi, who went into the break with 10 points - as did Nikola Mirotic.

The only reason why the Cules only went into the locker room with a one-point (47-46) lead had a name: Musa, who seemed unstoppable and in the blink of an eye scored 16 points after coming off the bench to keep, along with Guerschon Yabusele's 11 points, his team in the fight.

Madrid fight back

Walter Tavares' third foul, which he committed shortly after the start of the second half, caused the home side's spirits to multiply and they felt much more comfortable in attack.

With the Cape Verdean's teammates helping him in the paint so that he didn't get a personal charge, given that Madrid didn't have a substitute at centre after Vincent Poirier's appendicitis operation, the hosts punished him with three-pointers and great defence.

Despite Musa trying to come to the rescue, the gap gradually grew to 17 points.

It looked like it was all over and it was going to be plain sailing for Barcelona, but Jasikevicius' men were probably not counting on an 11-0 run for Los Blancos at the start of the final quarter - led by Yabusele thanks to his overwhelming physical superiority, which brought the Madrid side to within four points.

However, after the elimination of Hezonja and Tavares for fouls, it left the victory on a silver platter for the Catalan team, who soon recovered their double digit lead and only the injury of Abrines, who had to retire with a sore knee, left Barcelona with any worries after the game.

Musa, with 23 points, five rebounds and three assists, and Yabusele (19-4-2) were the top scorers for the team from the capital, while Mirotic stood out for the home side with 23 points and six catches. He was very well supported by both Satoransky (18-5-9) and Laprovittola (14-4-8).