By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
It was a complicated task for FC Barcelona, including effective three-point shooting for the opponents, but another win in Palau Blaugrana.
Prevailing, 89-81, over Fenerbahce Beko made it 7-0 at home in the 2023-24 edition of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season.
The visitors’ 20-point swing in the first half behind 8/11 from outside shaped a 12-point deficit at the break of the Round 13 contest. From allowing 31 points in the second quarter conceding only 31 points through the second half earned the narrow win.
Providing 21 points, a personal best in the EuroLeague, Willy Hernangomez paved the way despite dealing with foul trouble on Friday evening. “We executed the plan in the second half. That is the way we need to play,” he mentioned after making 10/13 shots, nearing a double-double with nine rebounds, and recording a game-high PIR of 26.
Nicolas Laprovittola scored nine of his 15 points in the fourth quarter pushing the reigning ACB champions toward the finish line. “I think we were very bad on defense in the first half. A lot of mistakes. We changed our mentality and attitude, and we changed the game from our defense,” said the Argentine point guard.
Czech imports Tomas Satoransky and Jan Vesely contributed 12 points apiece in bouncing back from the loss to Virtus Segafredo Bologna on Wednesday. Michael Caicedo (right foot surgery) and Oriol Pauli were out for Barca, and James Nnaji did not enter the court.
“We defended very close to excellent,” head coach Roger Grimau described the comeback leading to a tenth win over 13 games, “We defended their shooters, we controlled a little more the rebounds, and after that, we could play with more dynamic in offense.”
Among numerous reunions between players and former teams, Nigel Hayes-Davis logged a team-high 18 points on the losing end. Banking in a performance index rating of 16 kept him in the double-digit range for a tenth game in a row but was not enough to prevent the drop to 6-7.
“Unfortunately, they pushed us out with their aggressiveness full court,” summed up Dimitris Itoudis, “They took a lot of seconds out of our creativity, forced us in bad shots in the last seconds. We stayed in the game all the third quarter but our creativity was lacking good spacing and seconds that we need to bring the ball up.”
Johnathan Motley had 15 points, Tyler Dorsey paired 13 points with a game-high seven assists, and Scottie Wilbekin added 10 points in the seventh losing effort over eight away games in the ongoing continental campaign. Besides Metecan Birsen (knee), Raul Neto (knee), and Georgios Papagiannis (hamstring), Fener kept Sehmus Hazer sidelined as well.
“We do not have quitters. We have fighters,” added the Greek tactician pointing to better outcomes in the future, “Playing with the top teams can help us only to grow mentally and physically, and everything.”
Domestic meeting with Efes
Coming out of the two-game week in the EuroLeague, Fener faces Anadolu Efes with the opportunity to match the Istanbul rival at 9-2 on top of the Turkiye Sigorta Basketbol Super Ligi standings on Monday. AS Monaco visits Ulker Sports Arena four days later on Friday.
Barca will play a couple of games in Spain’s Liga Endesa, against Casademont Zaragoza on Sunday and BAXI Manresa on Wednesday, before hosting EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in Round 14 of the EuroLeague Regular Season next Friday.
Photo Credit: EuroleagueBasketball.net