The Spanish-Montenegrin and the Czech led a solid Barça with 21 points each
With ex-madridista Campazzo as the star, the Serbian team put up a tough battle until the end
Barça has taken an important step forward in its firm goal of having home court advantage in the Euroleague quarterfinals with a hard-fought 85-79 victory against a Red Star that fought to the end for their already few qualifying options. With 21 points each, Nikola Mirotic and Jan Vesely were key along with Abrines’ four three-pointers in the first half and good direction from Satoransky.
BAR
ITS T
LINEUPS
BARCA, 85
(18+22+17+28): Tomas Satoransky (13), Nico Laprovittola (3), Àlex Abrines (12), Nikola Mirotic (21), Sertaç Sanli (2) -starting five-, Rokas Jokubaitis (8), Kyle Kuric, Jan Vesely (21), Nikola Kalinic (5), Mike Tobey, Oscar da Silva and Oriol Paulí.
RED STAR, 79
(15+21+21+22): Luca Vildoza (7), Facundo Campazzo (24), Stefan Lazarevic, Benjamin Bentil (11), Hassan Martin (2) -starting five-, Luka Mitrovic (11), Nikola Ivanovic ( 6), Filip Petrusev (12) and Stefan Markovic (6).
REFEREES
Sreten Radovic (Croatia), Carmelo Paternico (Italy) and Amit Balak (Israel). They indicated technique to the visiting player Filip Petrusev (31:50).
INCIDENTS
Match corresponding to day 29 of the men’s basketball Euroleague played in front of 7,160 spectators at the Palau Blaugrana (Barcelona).
Although the last appearance at the Palau resulted in a league victory against BAXI Manresa (93-72), the truth is that In Europe, the Catalans came from suffering two consecutive defeats practically traced first on the court of the leader Olympiacos (77-70) and then on the visit to Fenerbahçe (81-73), which made it difficult to gain home court advantage in the quarterfinals.
In addition to the loss of Cory Higgins due to his perennial lower back problems, Saras left James Nnaji and Sergi Martínez without clothing, while the Serbian team had the important losses of Ognjen Dobric and Branko Lazic. In any case, two of the great attractions of the duel was the presence in the visiting team of the ex-Barcelona coach Dusko Ivanovic and of the ex-madridista point guard Facundo Campazzowho confronted Jokubaitis despite the fact that the Lithuanian had done nothing… Things from the Argentine.
The match began with a certain freshness for the local side, although this initial impression faded as Red Star imposed the usual defensive intensity of Ivanovic’s teams. With two triples from a highly inspired Àlex AbrinesBarça took a first lead of six points in the middle of the first quarter (15-9).
However, a couple of positive actions from a somewhat crazy ‘Facu’ and a couple of offensive rebounds that brought an indolent Sertaç Sanli to the bench allowed those from Belgrade came within just three points after the first 10 minutes (18-15). Barça scored 13 points in the first five minutes and only five in the remainder of the quarter.
Campazzo exhibited his bad manners with Jokubaitis
| JAVI FERRANDIZ
That offensive blackout lasted into the first half of the second quarter.which allowed the Red Star at the hands of a notable Luka Mitrovic (formerly of BAXI Manresa and UCAM Murcia) not only to balance the score but even to take a worrying lead of five points (20-25, min. 12:49). .
From there, Barça offered very good minutes, with an unleashed Abrines who went to halftime with four triples without a miss and with Mirotic scoring despite not appearing too visually. From 31-29 established by Nikola Ivanovic with a triple, he went to 40-31 (min. 16:37) with the feeling that the game was beginning to turn upside down.
The problem is that everyone knows the problem that this team has to close the games and again missed this first opportunity. Stefan Markovic (formerly from Valencia Basket) scored a triple and Mitrovic to go to the locker room with nine points and with his team only four (40-36). Yes, the locals had been intense, involved in the game, but they failed again in small details.
The third quarter was more of the same, a new notch in the Barça season, the Ying and the Yang, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or whatever they want to think. Let’s see. With two three-pointers from Satoransky and Mirotic, Barça went away with 10 points (46-36) and two actions followed by the Czech base increased this advantage even more (50-39, min. 12:01 p.m.).
Satoransky continues scratching at a very good level
| JAVI FERRANDIZ
Far from taking advantage of this dynamic, those of Saras allowed Campazzo to become master of the party. Yes, he is very good. That is indisputable, but fouls can be made and the Barça team only made one in the first nine and a half minutes. The Argentine made two more three-pointers and Vildoza closed the quarter with two baskets to tie and even missed a long three-pointer at the buzzer. (57-57). By the way Jasikevicius once again disrespected Oriol Paulí by making him play four seconds.
Barça repeated its hallmarks in the last quarter, always on the back of Mirotic and Vesely. The emergence of the Czech with a great dunk after not completing one in the previous action shot the Catalans on the scoreboard (71-62). It’s a pity that there is no way to close the games and the Serbian team returned in style to come within just two points (75-73) and there Lazarevic missed what cannot be missed to tie and ran into a two plus one from Jokubaitis (78-73).
The duel was closed by one of the great ‘workers’ of European basketball, a Nikola Kalinic who scored a triple (10/20 at the premises) already in the last minute to establish an 83-76 that should be synonymous with victory. So it was. A victory that is worth its weight in gold and brings the Catalans closer to the goal of playing the play-offs with home advantage.