By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The hosts needed the win… quite badly. And they achieved it, with no less than five players scoring in double digits and being accurate in their long range shooting (10/17 3point shots). Barcelona overpowered Zalgiris Kaunas 92 – 86 and stays alive in the race for the playoffs.
Pau Ribas of Barcelona was probably the one to stand out among his teammates with 13 points and 5 assists, while Edgaras Ulanovas had perhaps his best game in Euroelague for Zalgiris, with 17 points and 8 rebounds. But his opponents weren’t about to let him translate this performance into a victory. Why?
Simply because a result other than a victory could have been disastrous for the Catalans. They played with their backs against the wall. And their opponents proved to be a difficult prey, reminding us, for a bit, how they previously won in the same arena for the Regular Season. But the elements that empower Barcelona’s game made their appearance, especially in the second and third period. Which are those? Fast passing game, lots of ball movement and spacing sufficient enough to enable the players to find open looks to the basket.
Six minutes of this kind of performance did the trick, initially, for Xavi Pascual and his players. With a 16-3 partical score during the second quarter and great helps by Brad Oleson and Alex Abrines, Barcelona not only took the much wanted lead against Zalgiris, but expanded it to double digits. The more the game progressed, the more the Blaugrana found their mojo from behind the arc, shooting good enough to always stay at a safe distance from the guests.
The Lithuanian’s strong entrance and Ian Vougioukas’ prolific game (he had 8 points in less than 5 minutes) gave quite a trouble to Barcelona in the beginning, since the score was 4-12 at the mid of the first quarter and 16-19 at the end of it. Some turnovers and missed shots, spoiled the rhythm of Zalgiris though and this, combined with their opponents’ increased efficiency, left Jasikevicius’ players behind.
They didn’t give up, especially the trio of Ulanovas, Seibutis and Lekavicius. Yet for every question they raised, Barcelona always found an answer.