After two and a half hours of intense battle, Barça ended up climbing to the top of the Euroleague. He did it with a great victory in Belgrade against Red Star, who had not yet lost. If he achieved it, it was largely due to the performance of Kevin Punter, former captain of Partizan, and his whistle throughout the match. The American scored 26 points, 8 of them in overtime. That’s what he was signed for and the New Yorker responded.
The meeting seemed very interesting. An undefeated Red Star and a Barça in a moment of confidence. And the game was tremendous. The Peñarroya team entered better in flour, with Punter and Willy Hernangómez very successful. Furthermore, Barça had magnificent management in those early days by Juan Núñez. Hence the 5-11 starting score for the Barcelona fans. Red Star reacted quickly, in the midst of an electrifying atmosphere at the Belgrade Arena. Led by Kalinic, formerly of Barça, and Teodosic, the Balkan team matched the décor, within a high general level. Vesely took over for Barça with eight points in no time and at the end of the first quarter the score was 25-26.
Then it was Red Star that made its move, thanks to the speed of the intrepid Brazilian Dos Santos. Barça lost the thread with the second unit and the Serbs took off with a 7-0 partial (39-33). The return to the hardwood of Núñez with his assists, of Willy Hernangómez, good under the hoops, fatal in free throws, and of Parker, intelligent, equalized the contest again. Too bad for Barça about a triple at Miller’s horn (47-44 at halftime).
Another basket by Miller later crowned another important quarter for Red Star, a 10-0 that made it 59-54. After a good return to the Barça park, Daum had appeared, with 7 points almost in a row, to embolden the Serbian fans and to support an extra-motivated Kalinic. The Peñarroya match had to be stopped, with the idea that it would not get out of control. He did that and moved the bench. Brizuela responded to his call with two triples that stopped Red Star’s escape.
They entered the last quarter with a close 66-63. A period where controversy would arrive. When in doubt, the referees swept home, as in a technical to Peñarroya with 20s left to play and 82-81 on the scoreboard. Not even like that did Barça fail.
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