ESP - Barca, Caja Laboral close to ACB title showdown

BARCELONA (ACB) - Regal Barcelona and Caja Laboral finished first and second in the ACB during the regular season.

Each is now each a victory away from a place in the Spanish title series after taking 2-0 leads in their respective play-off semi-finals.

Barca put a way a gritty Unicaja Malaga on Saturday, 71-58, while Caja Laboral edged Real Madrid for the second straight time, winning 85-80 in overtime.

Xavier Pascual's Barcelona, winners of the Supercopa, Copa del Rey and Euroleague already this season, look good bets to claim a spectacular quadruple.

They continue to win games, even against an in-form Unicaja that upset Power Electronics Valencia in the first round of the post-season.

Unicaja led at the end of the first quarter of Game 2 on Saturday but Barcelona went on a rampage over the next 10 minutes, outscoring the visitors 28-10 to take a 40-23 lead to the break.

The Malaga men stormed back immediately after the restart with Berni Rodriguez’s three-point play and five straight points from Great Britain big man Joel Freeland – three of them on a shot from behind the arc.

A dunk by Freeland's fellow British national team star Robert Archibald six minutes into the quarter cut the Barca lead to 44-37 and a Saul Blanco basket then reduced the arrears to 52-46.

Barcelona stemmed the tide with four straight points from center Boniface Ndong, the first two on free-throws, to take a 56-46 lead to the last quarter.

After Gary Neal began the final frame with a three-ball for Unicaja, Barca replied with a 7-0 run.

Aito Garcia Reneses' men got no closer than 11 points the rest of the way.

Juan Carlos Navarro had 16 points and Fran Vazquez 13 for the winners while Freeland's 11 paced Malaga.

Madrid lost Game 2 to Caja Laboral 85-80 in overtime on Sunday.

Ettore Messina’s men had looked to be on their way to leveling the other semi-final before a dramatic three-pointer by Brazil international Marcelo Huertas gave Caja Laboral a 71-69 lead with a minute remaining.

Spain international Felipe Reyes scored down low and after a Mirza Teletovic miss from long range for Caja Laboral, Darjus Lavrinovic drew a foul and had to leave the game.

Messina inserted Louis Bullock in his place and the excellent shooter sank both free-throws for a 73-71 lead.

Reyes fouled Brad Oleson and the American sank both free-throws with seven seconds to go to knot the game.

After a timeout, Madrid fed the ball to Reyes down low but his shot was short and the game went to overtime.

Brazil’s Tiago Splitter, the ACB Player of the Year, opened the scoring in the extra period and Caja Laboral stayed on top for the rest of the way.

Splitter, one of the biggest names headed to the FIBA World Championship, finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

FIBA