Barça looked well out of this Liga Endesa fixture, but mounted a strong comeback towards the end, but it was quite enough to snatch what would have been a remarkable win.
Clearly missing Laprovittola, they were losing by ten at one point, but the game would not be definitively lost until the very, very end.
In a topsy turvy encounter, Barça had started strong enough, leading 10-4, with Willy Hernangómez making a huge impact, but more intense Valencia defending saw them claw their way back into it to end the first period ahead by one (18-19).
Barça started making often absurd mistakes in the second period, and some often bland defending allowed the home side to move to +12 with far too much ease (45-33).
Barça continued unnecessarily losing the ball far too frequently after the interval, but consecutive threes from Jabari Parker and Hernangómez changed the whole dynamic of the game. The narrowing gap blew away Valencia's confidence, and as further chunks were chopped out of their lead, Barça were right back it going into the final quarter (58-49).
In the final period, the gap was always about three points, and the comeback looked complete when Hernangómez finally got Barça back level. For most of the final period there was nothing to pick between the sides until Valencia moved five clear with two minutes to go. Barça refused to surrender and Abrines pulled things level again with just 24 seconds to go. The slightest detail could have changed things, but Valencia converted their free throws while Abrines couldn't find the hoop with his desperate 3-point attempt in the final second (71-68).
MATCH STATS
Valencia Basket, 71
Barça, 68
Valencia Basket: Jones (17), Puerto (6), Semi (2), Inglis (0), Davies (11), Harper (10), Jovic (4), Toure (0), Reuvers (7), Claver (2), Pradilla (4), Lopez-Arostegui (4)
Barça: Satoransky (0), Kalinic (15), Abrines (9), Da Silva (3), Vesely (4) -cinco inicial- Brizuela (3), Hernangómez (22), Jokubaitis (4), Parker (8), Nnaji (0), Parra (0)
Periods: 18-19, 27-14, 13-16, 13-19
Referees: Juan Carlos García González, Luís Miguel Castillo, Alfonso Olivares
