By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Dario Brizuela has never ended a game in double-digits in his first-ever EuroLeague season before playing against Zalgiris Kaunas at home in this year’s EuroLeague Regular Season. Against the Lithuanians, he was crucial, contributing to Roger Grimau’s fourth consecutive EuroLeague victory, winning 91-73 at home.
The former Unicaja Malaga’s shooting guard scored 24 points with 7/8 from two-point range and 3/6 from beyond the arc. “We did a great job, everybody is happy. I’m happy to have a game like this, but the main thing is the victory”, he said after the win.
He was followed by Jabari Parker – honored with a standing ovation and a dedicated chant by Palau Blaugrana at the end of the game -, who had 18 points (4/5 from three) and 6 rebounds. “It wasn’t a light team, we had to keep the intensity. On any given day in the EuroLeague, a team can upset you, so we had to match the energy. I gotta put [that chant] on my iTunes: it’s a good feeling”, he commented.
“In the first quarter and in the last quarter we defended really well”, Roger Grimau added after the game, in which he also decided to give some playing time to the youngest talent of Barcelona, Dame Sarr and Kasparas Jakucionis – who debuted in the EuroLeague by scoring 2 points against the Lithuanian powerhouse -, with 1:34 minutes left in the game. “They’re working hard, we’re happy to give them a couple of minutes”, Barcelona’s head coach shared about the promising talents.
On Andrea Trinchieri’s team, Keenan Evans had 14 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists but had some difficulties from beyond the arc (1/5). His backcourt partner Edmond Sumner was the highest scorer on the green-and-white team with 15 points on the score sheet. “I didn’t give my players many rules, but one was to never give up. And we gave up: that’s unacceptable”, Andrea Trinchieri said after the loss.
With this victory, Barcelona completed perfectly this double-game week after beating Olympiacos on Tuesday, following last week’s perfect double-game week against Real Madrid and Baskonia. Zalgiris Kaunas, instead, came down after winning against Valencia to start the week. The Catalan team is now standing alone at 2nd with a 15-6 record, while the Lithuanians are 16th with a 7-14 record.
PHOTO CREDIT: Turkish Airlines EuroLeague