• Narration: So we live the game
  • Classification: This is the Euroleague

The club was enough with the last quarter and the foolproof reliability of its great star, Nikola Mirotic , to take a victory against Valencia (76-77) for which very few would have bet in the first 30 minutes. The great performance of the Hispanic Montenegrin (26 points, 32 valuation) and the timely appearance of Thomas Heurtel when things seemed to paint worse for those of Svetislav Pesic ended up turning the great performances of Fernando San Emeterio and Bojan Dubljevic into mere anecdotes. The Montenegrin was vital in the start of the duel for his own, but his pulse trembled in the free throw line at the most inopportune moment. Something that, in the end, would give that thread of hope to which Mirotic also knew how to grab for the Barca players to add a new victory in the Euroleague. [Narration and statistics: 76-77]

Barça started the game showing serious problems to score. Something that Valencia knew how to use perfectly to escape on the scoreboard and prevail over a first quarter in which only Nikola Mirotic seemed able to face Barca. Bojan Dubljevic and Fernando San Emeterio, meanwhile, set the tone for a team that based its advantage on a better success from the three-point line, however much Victor Claver put things on the final stretch of the period to cut the local advantage to three points overlooking the second quarter (21-18).

Valencia, however, managed to erase in a stroke the reaction of Barcelona's reaction. At least, in the initial moments of the second period. An 8-0 run, which could have been 9-0 if Alberto Abalde had scored the extra shot, allowed him to open a gap of 11 points (29-18) that Barça, again from Mirotic, but In this case, with the timely appearance of Hanga and Oriola in the triples, he responded with a 0-10 that put him at a point of distance (36-35). His lack of control in the defensive rebound and his bad choices in attack, however, prevented Svetislav Pesic's team from getting ahead for the first time on the scoreboard, despite enjoying several opportunities for it. Something that the Valencia of Jaume Ponsarnau was able to punish to go to rest six points above the Barcelona players (43-37).

Arreón after the break

Barça had gotten himself alone, in large part, in quicksand. And Valencia, of course, did not miss his chance to make blood after the break. Again, exploiting the poor statistics of the Svetislav Pesic set in the rebound and displaying a lethal aim from beyond the three-point line. The locals managed to leave on the scoreboard until they reached a maximum advantage of 16 points (58-42) in the first few minutes of the period in which Fernando San Emeterio was able to score three triples. An unsportsmanlike foul by Guillem Vives , however, could have been crucial. It allowed those of Pesic to reduce the distances a little to get a little air. Fortunately for locals, just a little. Those of Ponsarnau, far from being intimidated, knew how to find an answer, again, to the attempt of reaction from Barcelona to leave for the last and final quarter with an income apparently comfortable to take the game definitively (66-53).

Only in appearance. Barça uncovered its best defensive version, to the delight of a Svetislav Pesic that, until then, quite possibly, should be cursing his teeth. That, together with the timely appearances of Thomas Heurtel and a Nikola Mirotic who knew how to throw his team back at the most decisive moment, ended up turning the scoreboard almost at the last breath. Dubljevic, one of the great arguments of Valencia in the first minutes, failed again and again from the free throw line and, unwittingly, made it possible for the Montenegrin Hispanic, a few seconds to go, put for the first time in advantage to the Barcelona players at the Fuente de San Luis. Two points that meant a 76-77 that, finally, was worth the victory for theirs.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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