A solid Barca, led by its star Nikola Mirotic (25 points and 6 rebounds) achieved an important victory in the third match of the quarterfinals against Bayern (66-75) That leaves him just one win away from the Final Four. Jasikevicius’s team showed the best side of him in a key match for their aspirations to be fighting for the European title again
BAY
FCB
Bayern Munich, 66
(17+14+18+17): Wiler-Babb (9), Lucic (X17), Dedovic (0), Thomas (4), Radosevic (2)- starting five-, Hunter (7), Jaramaz (13) ,, Obst (0), Rubit (14), Sisko (0), Schilling (0).
Barca, 75
(26+X23+10+16): Calathes (8), Laprovittola (9), Nigel-Hayes (2), Mirotic (25), Sanli (3)- starting five-, Davies (2), Exum (7) , Martinez (0), Smits (12), Abrines (0), Kuric (7), Jokubaitis (0)
Referees:
Borys Ryzhyk (UCR), Sreten Radovic (SER) and Mehdi DiFalla (FRA).
Incidents:
Third game of the Euroleague quarterfinal series at the Audi Dome, before 11,000 spectators.
Barça came out very focused to the duel as requested by the coach in the previous one, and Laprovittola’s initial triples gave Barça peace of mind who entered much better than Bayern. A triple by Lucic failed to get his team into the game because Barça came out with the lesson learned: intense defense and look for easy baskets.
After a triple to the limit by Sanli, Barça soon opened a lead of +11 (5-16) after the third triple by Laprovittolawho was the great protagonist of the first quarter along with a Mirotic who did assume responsibility and took fouls to add up from the free throw (8 points in that first quarter).
Good starting income
The maximum income reached 13 (5-18) before the Germans tried to get closer with the changes of Jasikevicius (15-22) and with a Jokubaitis that could not find the handle. Despite this, two final actions by Smits and Exum, brilliant at the start of the match, allowed them to close the quarter with nine points (17-26).
As usual, Saras gave continuity to the second unit, and on this occasion, they responded to the challenge of maintaining control of the game and even opening the rent.
A triple by Kuric took the lead to +13 (17-30) and in Barça’s best minutes, a great Smits (10) and Exum (7) took on offensive responsibility, accompanied by Miroticto open the lead at +19 (22-41).
Bayern, uncomfortable
Bayern couldn’t find comfortable shots with the Barça defense and Calathes came back to take the lead (6 assists) and the pace of the game with success to maintain control of the game at halftime with 18 points that allowed them to breathe but not relax (31-49).
Trinchieri’s men returned to the game much more aggressively, although Barça, already warned, maintained their defense and success in attack. Kuric and Calathes managed to maintain the difference that remained at 18 points midway through the quarter (39-59), aborting local attempts to get closer despite Lucic’s attempts (17).
The Germans tried not to lose the thread of the game, and thanks to the gifts in the form of fouls from Barça in defense, and that they did not attack well in the last minutes of the third quarter nor were they good in defense, Bayern managed to reduce the lead to only 10 (49-59) and with the game in the air.
Mirotic ends with the final doubts
In case there was any doubt on the Barça side, Nikola Mirotic dispelled them completelyeither. The Montenegrin put an end to any resistance from Trinchieri’s team with eight points in five minutes, which left the match sentenced despite local attempts (56-72).
The victory was no longer in danger (66-75) with the final contribution of Kuric and now the azulgranas can sentence the series on Friday, with many options if they repeat their performance at the Dome, and with Mirotic as head of operations.