By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
It was a dogfight from wire to wire, but this solid version of FC Barcelona knows what it needs to get a “W”. And they did just that, getting the close 76-74 road win over Fenerbahce thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by Nikola Mirotic.
That’s how Mirotic saved his night despite scoring just 8 points. As he admitted: “I was trying to find the rhythm today. Honestly, I didn’t feel great, especially offensively. I couldn’t make the shots I usually make, but I was trying to do some different things. We knew it was going to be a really difficult game, so in the end, Coach Saras made a great timeout play. They looked for me, and with a little luck, in the end, I was able to score. So I am very happy that we won the game, even though we didn’t play our best performance”.
The outcome was decided in the last two minutes with Barcelona entering them with a 70-66 lead after an unsportsmanlike foul on Jan Vesely which was translated to two made free throws by Cory Higgins and a goal-foul by Brandon Davies.
Fenerbahce didn’t back down and thanks to Vesely who had 24 points cut the lead to two (74-72) with 41 seconds left. Davis couldn’t score in the next possession and Devin Booker with a thunderous dunk tied the score at 74 just six seconds before the final buzzer.
The home team had turned things around, only for Mirotic to get the ball from Nick Calathes and deliver the killing blow at the buzzer.
“What can you say? You go home; you’re going to dream it, all year because we are really fighting” said Fenerbahce coach Sasa Djordjevic. “We are creating this fighting spirit and I’m proud of the guys. Again, sometimes these unsportsmanlike fouls are really killing us and we have to be smarter in those situations. But other than that, it was a great opponent, they have a lot of weapons. We tried to get it back; we were so close. It’s a process for us. We’re working and let’s move on. Congratulations to Barcelona.”
Higgins scored 18 and Davies had 16 points for the winners.
From the losing side, Vesely had a monster game with 24 points and 8 assists, while Marko Gufuric scored 17 points.
Barcelona remains on top of the EuroLeague standings with a 6-0 record, while Fenerbahce dropped to 2-4.