The setback of Piraeus in Barcelona is definitively put to rest, where the most spectacular basketball returned this Friday, happy for the Palau, which enjoyed its team’s European exhibition. Barça defeated Baskonia to return to the top of the Euroleague standings, which, yes, is very compressed. And he did it with a display of attack and defense that would satisfy any coach, including Peñarroya, of course.
Barça, who would not have been forgiven anything other than to press the accelerator fully from the initial jump, jumped onto the court with warning. Laso’s men are the only ones who have been able to assault the Palau this season, an affront that occurred just a couple of weeks ago in the League, so the Peñarroya team started with the batteries on. The first minutes became a blaugrana gale, started by Punter, awarded the October MVP, an award he celebrated by giving a master class, and backed by his success in outside shooting (12/23 in triples at the end). That the rival added three by three was taking its toll on Baskonista morale. They fell one after another, even Vesely dared and got it right, later repeating it on two more occasions, scoring an unprecedented three out of three. On the other hand, Abrines’ defense of Howard was also masterful. So the combined result of all this was a 15-2 that forced Laso to call a timeout after his team went almost five minutes without scoring.
Vesely scored three triples and Punter, October MVP in the Euroleague, gave a master class
It seemed like Forrest, Barça’s executioner just a couple of weeks ago, the only one who stood up to Barça. But he was joined by Howard, who took advantage of Abrines’ well-deserved rest to get into the game and score the first 8 points of his team in the second quarter and return Baskonia to the duel (30-35). It was something temporary, well defended almost all night.
It gave Barça time to hit the accelerator again before the break with the Czech duo as conductor. Satoransky and Vesely proved to be the ideal couple, almost asking for a place in an imaginary sequel to Love Actually – Christmas is coming – and a triple from the point guard equaled the maximum before heading to the locker room (42-29, m17).
The second half began with a triple plus an additional shot by Abrines, which widened it to 48-33. Baskonia did not want to fall to the canvas despite everything, and they had the strength to continue making the rubber with Forrest as the main, and almost only, argument. But he was faced with a Barça team in a state of grace, which continued to strike and in the last act did not get a response from the rival, who fell hopelessly to the canvas. The Blaugrana had a great time, leading 91-65 almost on the edge, with Joel Parra reappearing a month later to complete the party after entering the rotation in place of Willy Hernangómez. If you defend well and attack even better, it seems difficult to lose.
Technical sheet
91. Barça (26+18+18+): Satoransky (7), Punter (15), Abrines (4), Parker (9), Vesely (17) -starting team-, Anderson (11), Metu (7) , Núñez (8), Fall (8), Brizuela (5), Sarr (0) and Parra (0).
68. Baskonia (17+16+18+): Howard (11), Forrest (17), Luwawu-Cabarrot (2), Moneke (10), Hall (4) -starting team-, Sedekerskis (6), Diop ( 4), Baldwin (2), Rogkavopoulos (5), Ndiaye (7) and Raieste (0).
Referees: Damir Javor (ESL), Borys Ryzhyk (UCR) and Luka Kardum (CRO). No eliminated.
Incidents: Matchday 8 of the Euroleague played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 5,938 spectators. Before the opening jump, Kevin Punter received the award as October MVP in the competition. A minute of silence was also held in memory of those killed by DANA in Valencia.
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