By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona has the best Turkish Airlines EuroLeague start since the 2014-15 season as they have beaten Crvena Zvezda mts 73-65 on the road for a 4-0 record. Zvezda, on the other hand, stayed at one win (1-3).
Nikola Mirotic led the way with 21 points followed by Brandon Davies’ 14 and Kyle Kuric’s 15 points. The same trio scored 22 out of Barcelona’s 24 third-quarter points which decided the victor.
For Zvezda, James Gist scored ten points in addition to Borisa Simanic, Ognjen Dobric and Mouhammad Faye’s eight points each. Ognjen Kuzmic – who suffered life-threatening injuries in a car accident this summer – returned to action and scored two points in 3:24 on the floor.
Both squads had problems organizing their offense as they turned over the ball 23 times combined in the first half but the hosts had a 16-12 lead after ten minutes and made a 14-2 run in the second quarter for a 33-20 advantage. However, Mirotic sparked Barca’s comeback which trailed by only three points at halftime (36-33).
“We had big luck. In basketball, you play four quarters of 10 minutes. We did not play very good, but if you play a road game, against a team in this kind of atmosphere like tonight, it is important to know that a third quarter can decide things. We had time to change some tactical things, especially on defense because our defense was terrible. We can always play better on offense, we made too many turnovers, but with excellent defense we compensated and we deserved this win”, Barca coach Svetislav Pesic said after the game.
The hosts improved the lead to 42-35 but Davies, Kuric and Mirotic took over scoring 22 out of Barca’s 24 points in the third quarter as the Spaniards turned the tables (57-49). They kept going for a 15-point lead (64-59) and although Zvezda made a comeback, it was too late to change the outcome.
Mirotic was quite surprised by the warm welcome from Zvezda’s crowd and is very grateful for it: “I feel exhausted. I am very happy we got this win, it is very important for us. I want to congratulate Crvena Zvezda for the amazing game and this amazing atmosphere here in Belgrade. They played such a great game, but in the end, we did a good job defensively and executed well offensively. We just need to keep playing. We have some important guys injured in the team. Basically, we are playing without point guards, but there are a lot of guys doing great work, they are helping us so I am very happy about this game tonight. I did not expect [a warm welcome] here, I am blessed to feel the applause here at the arena tonight. I am thankful for the fans and Zvezda organization for those great moments. I did not expect it at all.”
Game Highlights
Photo Credit: Barca Basket