By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona used a 15 – 2 run in the last five minutes to overcome Bayern Munich 71 – 66 in Palau Blaugrana. This result improved Barca to 18 – 5 while Bayern fell to 11 – 12.
Kyle Kuric scored a game-high 20 points on 4-4 3-pointers and led the charge in his team’s explosion down the stretch with seven points, including the go-ahead triple for the 63 – 61. Brandon Davies pulled off a three-point play and Dante Exum hit a bucket from beyond the arc for the 69 – 63 with 1:21 to play. Nikola Mirotic then scored to put the hosts up 71 – 63 with 50 seconds to play, more or less sealing the win of his team.
“Very tough match,” Kuric said. “They played very physical, very hard. Kind of an ugly game for us, I don’t think we played very well. But we got the stops and the baskets we needed at the end to win. It was important to win, now we move to the next one.”
Vladimir Lucic dropped 12 out of his 16 overall points through three minutes in the fourth period to push Bayern towards overturning a 47 – 41 deficit and move up 56 – 61. Barca’s reaction was too strong for the visiting side that led 9 – 15 early in the game and was up 28 – 29 at the break. The game had begun with both teams struggling to make a basket and the first period finishing 9 – 9.
Mirotic finished with 13 points and six rebounds while Exum produced all of his nine points in the second half while grabbing five boards. Ognjen Jaramaz finished with 15 points for Bayern.
“I believe that we tried very hard,” Bayern coach Andrea Trinchieri said. “I believe that we had very-very good moments. Maybe we deserved a little more. This is how it is. No matter what, I’m proud of my team.”
A bad start that may teach something
For Barca coach Sarunas Jasikevicius, the team’s really ugly entrance in the game can serve as a lesson to help enter the next games with the right attitude.
“It’s exactly what we expected,” Saras said. “And I’m not sure I prepared my team good. Because they came out surprised, they came out sluggish. Bayern was really better than us, pushing us. We were missing a lot of shots. Then when we stopped playing better, they hit all the shots that they usually do. We have to be careful to not have this type of bad preparation, especially the mental preparation I got to do a better job. Ultimately, in the fourth quarter some guys dug deeper. We have some great players on the team with great character and they pulled it out. But we should take it as a lesson for us.”