Real Madrid

Real Madrid and Barcelona are set to clash in the final series of the Endesa League playoffs. They faced each other four times in the regular season, resulting in two victories for each, including Real Madrid's triumph in Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final.

The Madridistas lost their previous game at the Palau 86-83 in the penultimate game of the regular season, which was marred by controversy. Real Madrid have just won an epic semifinals series against Caja Laboral that was decided in a fifth game at the Palacio de los Deportes. Velickovic became the best player in the playoffs so far during the series, Rodriguez was the team's master of ceremonies and a key shooter, Mirotic recovered from his injury and gave solid performances, and Reyes' experienced allowed him to pull rank in key moments to keep his team grounded in the game.

Barcelona's Lorbek, Navarro, Ndong, Mickeal and Eidson are also in top form and will have the home advantage in the first two games of the series as they try to fiercely resist Madrid's swift game.

PLAYOFFS STATS
TEAM	PF	PC	REB	AS	BL	ST	T.O.
Barcelona Regal	79	62.5	34.8	16.5	4	8.1	10.1
Real Madrid	77	69.2	36.8	11.2	1.5	4.5	8.7

Barcelona's numbers are better than the Whites' in practically every aspect of the game, but they are not better at pulling down rebounds, which is what allows Real to have fast counterattacks and up the pace of every game. Barça have the best defence in the playoffs and the Whites are second in the ranking, while having second and third best offences in the series, respectively.

A tight duel is anticipated between point guards Marcelinho, Sergio Llull and Rodrigez. Carroll and Navarro will also face-off on the perimeter, while Velickovic will do his best to stop Lorbek.

This is the most frequent tie in the final series of the playoffs since 1984, resulting in five victories for Real Madrid and four for Barça in. The Madridistas won their last league title in 2007 against Barça, sentencing the series at the Palau with a 82-71 victory in Game 4.

Real Madrid managed to turn the overall score around twice in the past to win the title against Barcelona in 2000 and TAU in 2005.

MOST FREQUENT TIE IN PLAYOFFS FINAL SERIES
YEAR	TIE	OVERALL SCORE
1984	Real Madrid-FC Barcelona	2-1
1986	Real Madrid-FC Barcelona	2-0
1988	FC Barcelona-Real Madrid	3-2
1989	FC Barcelona-Real Madrid	3-2
1994	Real Madrid-FC Barcelona	3-0
1997	Real Madrid-FC Barcelona	2-3
2000	FC Barcelona-Real Madrid	2-3
2001	FC Barcelona-Real Madrid	3-0
2007	Real Madrid-FC Barcelona	3-1