By Eurohoops team / info@eurohoops.net
Adam Hanga delivered an all-around performance of 10 points, a career-high 10 assists plus five rebounds as Barcelona defeated Bayern Munich 77 – 67 on the road to capture its fifth straight win and improve its EuroLeague regular-season record to 12 – 3.
Bayern Munich lost its first game after two straight victories and dropped to 6 – 9.
“The most important thing is that we won the game, especially on the road,” Hanga commented to EuroLeague TV. “We have to collect these important wins because we know that at the end it’s going to count for a lot. Nothing else, it was another good day, Christmas is coming up and we are happy for this win. We have a couple more days and we have to play domestically before our next EuroLeague game. But before Christmas, it’s good we won this one.”
Barcelona led from start to finish, particularly thanks to its defensive efforts that forced its opponents to just 28 points in the first 24 minutes of the game. By the mid of the third period, Svetislav Pesic’s players had taken an 18-point lead, 28 – 46.
Thanks to Paul Zipser (19 points), Bayern improved its offense but the Blaugrana managed to retain an advantage around double figures and thus never allowing the hosts to become truly threatening. Brandon Davies put the final stamp on the win of the visiting side with a spin move and a foul won that made the 60 – 73 with 1:33 left to play.
Cory Higgins dropped a team-high 16 points for Barcelona while Nikola Mirotic scored 14 points and collected nine rebounds.
Barcelona’s defense does the trick
Bayern struggled to connect to the basket and Paul Zipser credited his opponents’ tough defense for making it hard for him and his teammates to produce.
“Barcelona’s defense was very aggressive and we had many problems with it,” Zipser said. “In the second half it was better from us but in the end not enough. We knew how they would play but they made us tired and so it was easy for them to score.“
Photo: EuroLeague Basketball