By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Bitci Baskonia blew out FC Barcelona, 94-75, to snap the nine-game winning streak carried by the visitors at Fernando Buesa Arena in the last 2021 game of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.
Lithuanian sharpshooter Rokas Giedraitis connecting five of the 14/30 team three-pointers scored 20 points. He had 12 points in the third quarter as the Basque Country country club went up by 20 points entering the last period of Wednesday’s Round 18 contest.
“We had a good reaction after losing against Zaragoza,” he said mentioning Tuesday’s ACB Regular Season Round 15 defeat, “We stepped up. It was different energy from everybody.”
Steven Enoch and Matt Costello posted a 13-point, 10-rebound double-doubles, while Wade Baldwin IV paired 16 points with eight assists. Simone Fontecchio fired ten of his 14 points in the third period and captain Jayson Granger threw in ten more points. The hosts improved to 7-11.
“I feel like it defines our character as a team,” explained Enoch, “We took a hit in the last game. We wanted to come back and give our best performance. We try to give our best performance every night, but if not you know the next time will be two times as better.”
A 16-0 run shaped a ten-point lead in the second quarter. Baskonia recovered the double-digit advantage early in the third quarter and kept its distance the rest of the way. The defense was the difference-maker limiting all offensive options beyond Nikola Mirotic for the Catalan powerhouse.
Mirotic ended up with 19 points to his name. Both Cory Higgins (back) and Sergi Martinez (ankle) returned to action as members of the starting lineup fielded by head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius but struggled to get things going. Nick Calathes (left leg) and Alex Abrines (knee) remained sidelined with Pierre Oriola and Kyle Kuric in the coronavirus health and safety protocols.
“A little bit embarrassing,” claimed the losing play-caller summarizing the forty minutes, “Why was it not embarrassing. Did you see what happened?”
“Congratulations to Baskonia, it was clearly the only team on the court today,” he added during the postgame press conference, “I think that the deciding factor, most likely, was motivation. I don’t know why it was like this. I don’t have the answer for that at this point but at some point, it was a really bad feeling. It was a little bit embarrassing for me to stand there on the sidelines and to see some of the things, to see how one team is jumping over the heads and running the fast break, and making everything so easy, and we are standing and giving it.”
Besides nine consecutive wins in Europe’s premier club continental competitions, the Spain champions were coming off five straight wins across all competitions since losing to Baskonia at the domestic level on December 5. The EuroLeague-leading W-L tally went down to 15-3.
The team based in Vitoria-Gasteiz started a disciplinary procedure in response to Landry Nnoko violating team rules, as announced prior to the game. For that reason, he sat out along with injured players Arturs Kurucs (eye) and Sander Raieste (knee). Head coach Neven Spahija being unavailable as well was replaced by lead assistant David Gil.
“We need to keep fighting in the same way,” pointed out Gil after securing his first EuroLeague win, “It is very easy to coach at this level with such energy by the players.”
Alec Peters (knee) was active but did not play. He is expected to finally make his season debut in the coming weeks. His side is slated to host Hereda San Pablo Burgos looking to jump to 9-7 in the ACB on Sunday and then travel to Israel to face Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv Thursday.
Coming up next for Barca, a visit at Real Madrid Sunday. However, the ACB Round 16 fixture is in danger of being postponed as the archrivals based in Spain’s capital are among the multiple teams currently facing a COVID-19 outbreak.
Photo Credit: Barca Basket Twitter