By Rigas Dardalis/ dardalis@eurohoops.net
Maybe it was the news just before the game about Dirk Nowitzki being absent due to knee injury. Maybe it was the fact that after two gamedays in Spanish Liga Endesa, Barcelona still searches for its first win. The only sure thing is that nobody expected the team of coach Xavi Pascual to explode and beat Dallas Mavericks by 14 points (99-85) in the last game of this year’s NBA Europe Live tour.
It was just an exhibition game, but for one more time it was proven that the gap between European basketball and NBA on the court is not as big as it used to be. Veteran American forward Pete Mickael scored 19 points, as also did Barca’s heart and soul, Juan Carlos Navarro. Three more players from the host team, Jawai (13 p.), Huertas (12 p.) and Tomic (12 p.) scored also in double digits. Mavericks without Nowitzki were disappointing with O.J. Mayo scoring just one point and Chris Kaman being the top scorer of the team with 15.
This is the third win in the history of Barcelona against an opponent from the NBA in preseason. The Catalans did the same back in 2006 against the Sixers (109-104) and also in 2010 against the Lakers (92-88) with Mickael (26 p.) and Navarro (25 p.) being also the top scorers of that game.