Barça 89-81 Zalgiris: Second win in the series

The Barça basketball team had to work hard to take victory in the second game of their Euroleague play off against Zalgiris Kaunas. The 89-81 victory was a much closer affair than the first game on Wednesday and now Saras Jasikevicius' team travel to Lithuania with a 2-0 lead in the tie searching for a victory that will take them into the Final Four. 

The blaugranes were strong defensively and Jan Vesely with 26 points and Mirotic with 22 points were the key men on offense. 

The visitors set the pace 

The opening exchanges were dominated by the visitors who moved into the lead early on. However, the blaugranes stayed in touch in the first quarter and brought themselves back to 21-20, just a point behind going into the second. 

The game levels up 

In the second period the teams exchanged baskets continually as neither side were able to gain an important lead. At half time the home side led 45-44 with the game to be decided in the second half. After the break the contest remained tight before Mirotic and then a three pointer from Laprovittola swung the match Barça's way at 68-66. 

In the final period Mirotic and Vesely scored important points to give Barça a six point lead at 72-66. However, Zalgiris rallied and came to within two at 78-76 with four minutes remaining. In the final minutes a three pointer from Jokubaitis gave the blaugranes a bit of breathing space and they were able to close out a 89-81 win to take a 2-0 lead to Kaunas next week. 

MATCH STATS

Barça, 89
Zalgiris, 81

Barça: Satoransky (6), Laprovittola (5), Abrines (5), Mirotic (22), Vesely (26) - starting five - Sanli (2), Martinez (-), Kalinic (8), Tobey (0), Kuric (6), jokubaitis (9), Nnaji (-)

Zalgiris:  Taylor (7), Smits (8), Bradzdeikis (20), Butkevicius (7), Ulanovas (13) - starting five - Giedraitis (2), Lekavicius (5), Hayes (3), Birutis (10), Lukosiunas (0), Polonara (2), Dimsa (4).