By Eurohoops Team / info@eurohoops.net
On a date which marked Juan Carlos Navarro’s 20 years with FC Barcelona Lassa, a night where he received a standing ovation and was honored, his team defeated 89-67 Maccabi Tel Aviv on Day 9 of the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague.
The key: Barcelona’s team game was on point tonight as the team had 25 assists and scored 87 points. Their defense was also impressive keeping Maccabi to only 24 points at the half and 67 points for the game.
The game: Barcelona built an early 14-7 run in the first quarter (6:00) showing its intentions since early on and forcing coach Neven Spahija to call a time-out. The first quarter ended a double-digit lead for ‘Barca’ as the home team went up ahead by eleven points (22-11). In the second quarter, the home team continued to dominate, the deficit even increased to twenty points (36-16) (17:00), as Alonso’s players were making their free-throws and shots while also playing good defense.
Early in the third quarter, the home side kept scoring in a variety of ways but also playing tough defense on the other end of the court, and the lead grew to 25 points (51-26). Maccabi tried to come back with a seven-point burst but Sanders and Kopponen responded to put Barcelona up by 20. In the final 10 minutes of the game, Barcelona controlled the tempo until the final buzzer and enjoyed a special night, honoring Juan Carlos Navarro and improving its record to 4-5.
The star: Rakim Sanders was excellent for the winners as he scored 18 points, and was an impressive 6/9 from beyond the arc. Petteri Koponen was also efficient as he added 20 points on just 11 shots.
Not enough: Jonah Bolden finished with 15 points.
** Juan Carlos Navarro played the last five minutes of the game and managed to score three points.