Barça have lost to Baskonia (103-96) in a finely contested Sunday night fixture where everything was up in the air until a thrilling but ultimately disappointing final period. The Catalans will need to bounce back when they face Partizan Belgrade at 8.30pm CET next Friday at the Palau in the EuroLeague.
Early hope
Barça scored the first 5 points and held onto that lead for much of the first period, before Matt Costello and Markus Howard started coming to the fore for the home side, who would eventually lead by four as the first ten minutes concluded.
It was in the second period that the Basques' effectiveness with 3-pointers really started to be a killer for blaugrana interests. Despite the pleasure of Ricky Rubio getting his first ACB points in a barça jersey, there was an 8-point deficit to deal with after the half-time break.
Parker and Vesely led the response on the paint and Jokubaitis did likewise from the exterior zone, but Baskonia 7/9 in 3-pointers was simply too hot too handle, and that was despite Barça's own rate of 4/6 not being anything to be sniffed at. Markus Howard was on fire, scoring 14 in the 3rd period alone, and Barça now trailed by a bigger margin than ever, 12.
Late hope
But Barça dominated the final period and threatened to take the game, with Laprovittola playing the superhero role with 10 points to get Barça back to within just two points. Barça amassed an impressive 96 points in total, which on most days would have been more than enough.
Nit today though, and Baskonia held off the late blaugrana surge to win a thoroughly entertaining contest. Shame the result wasn't the right one in the end.
MATCH STATS
Baskonia, 103.
Barça, 96.
Baskonia: Marcus Howard (37), Miller-McIntyre (4), Marinkovic (9), Tadas Sedekerskis (11), Kotsar (8), Matt Costello (23), Díez (9), Theodore (2), Raieste (0), Querejeta (-), Rogkavopoulos (0).
Barça: Nicolás Laprovittola (12), Tomas Satoransky (3), Nikola Kalinic (5), Jabari Parker (21), Willy Hernangómez (16), Ricky Rubio (6), Jan Vesely (14), Darío Brizuela (5), Joel Parra (6), Rokas Jokubaitis (5), Alex Abrines (3), Oscar Da Silva (0).
Periods: 23-19 / 27-23 / 32-18 / 21-26.
Referees: Fernando Calatrava, Martín Caballero & Javier Torres.
