Barça take the lead in the standings with nine wins (two losses), ahead of their Spanish rival Real Madrid on points difference.
On the other hand, Asvel, which recorded its third defeat in a row (five in total) for six victories, fell back a little (8th) after having started the competition with three successes.
For this meeting, Villeurbanne was very handicapped by the absences of Antoine Diot, David Lighty, Raymar Morgan and Victor Wembanyama, injured, while two players tested positive for Covid-19, Marcos Knight, recently recruited as a medical freelance writer, and Dylan Osetkowski.
Thus, coach TJ Parker could only field ten players and the number of rotations certainly weighed physically in the second half of the match.
The distant duel between the two top scorers in the Euroleague, the Villeurbanne Elie Okobo and the Barcelona player Nikola Mirotic turned to the advantage of the first (17 points against 15) without however managing to win his team as much as 'in Barcelona Nicolas Laprovittola was elusive (25 pts).
Okobo, who only managed 4/12 on shots, scored only four points before half-time before being more efficient afterwards (13 points).
The first and third quarters were decisive in the victory of Barcelona (19-9, 31-19) with in particular a series of 17-0, between the 8th and 11th minute which allowed the Catalans to lead 24-9 .
In the 31-28 first half, both teams' defenses took precedence over attacks.
And if Asvel, who took away the second quarter (19-12) managed to get back to one point from Barça (28-29, 19th), the men of Sarunas Jasikevicius, with 50% success on shots (18 / 36) against 39.5% (17/43) for the Rhone, kept the advantage until the end.
They also won the last quarter (18-13) after leading by 23 points (72-49, 33rd).
During the next day, Villeurbanne will challenge Monaco, on November 26, for the duel between the two clubs of the French championship engaged in the Euroleague.
© 2021 AFP