A defeat for Barça in the first EuroLeague game of 2022. A very tight affair to the end, the 73-75 loss to AX Armani Exchange Milan is the first loss of the season in a European game in the Palau Blaugrana.
Steady start
The signs were there that this was going to be a close game as the first quarter saw good defence and the score even at 14-14. The visitors stepped it up somewhat in the second quarter and despite Barça defending well, Milan opened up a slight lead at the break to go in 28-34 up.
Barça respond
The third quarter saw a tremendous scoring run, with Mirotic, Laprovittola and Kuric all scoring triples, taking Barça to 47-38 up. This only served to spur the Milan side to respond themselves but Barça managed to keep the advantage to end the third quarter with the score 54-47 with all to play for.
Lead squandered in the fourth
Despite the lead, Milan quickly tied the score at 56-56. Again Barça took the lead but two consecutive triples from the visitors levelled the score. The final minutes saw the baskets exchanged with Milan in front. Despite triples from Kuric and Mirotic (who received the EuroLeague MVP award for December prior to the game), the buzzer sounded and the game ended with a very tight loss (73-75) to start the EuroLeague with a defeat in 2022.
Match stats
Barça 73
AX Armani Exchange Milan 75
Barça: Laprovittola (6), Kuric (22), Hayes (-), Mirotic (18), Davies (11) - starters -, Sanli (2), Martínez (-), Smits (2), Higgins (1), Jokubaitis (11), Nnaji (-).
AX Armani Exchange Milan: Rodríguez (18), Grant (6), Hines (8), Melli (8), Bentil (8) - starters -, Kell (8), Tarczewsky (-), Ricci (-), Hall (8), Delaney (15).
Quarters: 14-14 / 28-34 / 54-47 / 73-75.
Referees: Latisevs, Rocha, Nedovic.
