The Palau Blaugrana was a party culminated by the resounding victory of his team against Zenit de Saint Petersburg: 84-58. Barcelona thus completed the double anniversary, the 50 years since the founding of its court and the achievement of the European title in Paris in 2010. The tenth anniversary of that triumph came more than a year late due to the pandemic. The previous ceremony, with many of the protagonists of that time such as Navarro, Mickeal, Basile or Lorbek waving from the center of the court, did not detract Jasikevicius’s team, which added its fifth victory in the five days played in this edition of the Euroleague. .
After an even first quarter, Laprovittola’s 3-pointers, Higgins’ first baskets failed early, and Mirotic’s talent began to make a difference. The Zenit led by Xavi Pascual, also honored at the beginning because he was the coach of that triumphant Barça in 2010, did not show the consistency of a year ago. When he started to go behind on the scoreboard, he was shipwrecked against the Barcelona defense and accumulated the turnovers. The Barça team, to which the Turkish center Sertac Sanli returned after an injury that had barely allowed him to play this season, accelerated, marked differences of up to 27 points (62-35) and several of his players expanded, starting with Mirotic who He had enough with just over 15 minutes to add 20 points, 4 rebounds and a 28 PIR.
Zenit missed their leader last season, Canadian point guard Kevin Pangos, who left the team to play in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers. To replace him, the Russian team signed American point guard Shabazz Napier, who had played with several NBA teams, the last ones, Brooklyn, Minnesota and Washington. But Napier was injured early in the season and has yet to make his Euroleague debut.
Barcelona, 84; Zenith, 58
Barcelona: Calathes (4), Higgins (4), Kuric (7), Mirotic (20), Sanli (11) -starting team-; Davies (11), Sergi Martínez (0), Smits (7), Hayes-Davis (6), Oriola (0), Laprovittola (8) and Jokubaitis (6).
Zenit Saint Petersburg: Kulagin (8), Loyd (8), Ponitka (8), Mickey (4), Gudaitis (6) -starting team-; Karasev (0), Volkhin (3), Baron (8), Zubkov (2), Poythress (6) and Frankamp (5).
Partial: 20-19, 24-8, 22-14 and 18-17.
Referees: Lamonica, Mogulkoc and Majkic. They called a technical foul on Kulagin.
Palau Blaugrana. 5th round of the Euroleague. 4,481 spectators.
Fontecchio leads Baskonia
Baskonia successfully beat Monaco 78-66 and posted their third consecutive victory in the Euroleague, which began with two defeats. The offensive aggressiveness and the aim of the Italian forward Fontecchio, the direction of the Uruguayan point guard Granger and the dominance in the interior of the zone of his pivots, the American Enoch and the Cameroonian Nnoko promoted the team led by Dusko Ivanovic.
Monaco kept the type until the third quarter thanks to their inside men, Motiejunas and Boutsiele, but little by little they were paying their inferiority in the rebound and the errors in the shot of Mike James. The former Baskonia, CSKA and Nets player was too rushed on many pitches and was not at his usual level.
Baskonia, 78; Monaco, 66
Baskonia: Granger (12), Fontecchio (20), Giedraitis (10), Costello (0), Nnoko (14) -starting team-; Baldwin (6), Sedekerskis (2), Marinkovic (0), Enoch (12) and Kurucs (2).
AS Monaco: Mike James (18), Westermann (0), Ouattara (5), Boutsiele (11), Motiejunas (10) – starting team; Lee (2), Will Thomas (2), Diallo (3), Faye (0), Gray (0), Andjusic (15) and Hall (0).
Partial: 21-20, 15-17, 22-11 and 18-20.
Referees: Boltauzer, Jovcic and Vyclicky.
Buesa Arena. 7,423 spectators. Baskonia has three victories and two defeats.
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