Euroleague Qualification
Two of the main Barça figures finally returned to play in the Euroleague.
Nikola Mirotic
and
Brandon Davies
had minutes, but it was
Nick Calathes
and
Pierre Oriola
, with
Cory Higgins
as the leading scorer, who led the Catalans to a hard-fought victory against Red Star that allows them to lead the table again.
Barcelona's iron control of the rebound and its defensive strength, despite its disastrous aim in the triples, in this case, were decisive to prevail against a rival who fought tooth and nail, but ended up falling 60-72.
Barça, with Mirotic on track, signed a promising first quarter.
Oriola, hyperactive at both ends of the field, and Calathes especially shone from a team that defensively suffocated the Red Star.
The locals, in fact, saved their faces thanks to three 3-pointers and two free throws.
The set of
Jasikevicius
came to sign a partial 13 points (8-21) in the final straight but saw a pitch last of
Dobric
placed less bleeding in the bright 11-21 to send the match to the second quarter.
There, the locals would wake up thanks, above all, to the contribution of a
Loyd
capable of scoring in the most unlikely ways and the contributions of
O'Bryant
and
Davidovac
.
The Red Star gave one more step to their defensive intensity and the Barcelona fans had to entrust themselves above all to the good work of Calathes to reach the break ahead on the scoreboard (31-35), although with worse feelings than in the first ten minutes .
Decisive talk
Jasikevicius's talk in the locker room had an effect.
Barça, again, showed the image displayed in the first ten minutes and thwarted the Red Star's attempt to react in time.
Nothing mattered that
Kuric
missed two consecutive triples, something almost unprecedented.
Their intensity in defense and their ability to prevail over and over again in the rebounds, including a tantrum from their coach if they let even one escape, earned them a maximum difference of 14 points (43-57) than
Quino Colom
, again on the last gasp, it would drop slightly to 45-57.
The Barcelona advantage, in this case, would escalate at the start of the last and final period to 21 points (45-66) after the locals got into bonus before the first two minutes of play were completed.
Between
Smits
and
Davies they
punished an opponent who, as time went by, became increasingly clear that their attempts to close the gap were going to finally fall on deaf ears.
The advantage amassed by the Catalans in the first moments of the period would be more than enough to avoid them suffering for the victory.
The final 60-72 also allowed them to tie victories with CSKA and, therefore, after beating it both at the Palau and in Moscow, rise to the lead.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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See links of interest
Work calendar
Red Star - Barça
Fuenlabrada - Alcorcón
Borussia Mönchengladbach - Borussia Dortmund
Benevento - Torino
TD Systems Baskonia - Alba Berlin