FC Barcelona Lassa v Montakit Fuenlabrada: Perfect start to playoffs (99-65)

FC Barcelona Lassa: Satoransky (7), Navarro (7), Perperoglou (13), Doellman (10) & Tomic (15) –starting five–, Samuels (10), Arroyo (10), Abrines (9), Oleson (5), Vezenkov (6) Eriksson (7) & Lawal.

Montakit Fuenlabrada: Popovic (9), Tabu (8), Wear (8), Sobin (6) & Paunic (5) –starting five–, Urtasun (1), Úriz (2), Llorca (12), Smits (7), Demetrio (2), González Scott (5) & González.  

Periods: 31-15 / 23-17 / 20-17 / 25-16.

Palau Blaugrana: 4.052 spectators.

The play-offs got off to a perfect start for Barça Lassa as they came within a point of a hitting three figures against Montakit Fuenlabrada in game one of their quarter final series. On Thursday at the Palau they led from the start and never looked back, with Tomic, Perperoglou and Samuels all posting outstanding performances. They finished with an end-season all-time high of 29 assists, beating their own record against Gran Canària in 2010.  

Threes from Doellman, Perperoglou and Satoransky got Barça flying out of the blocks to an 11-0  streak, and the first period ended with a handsome lead of 31-15 already suggesting that this was going to a one-sided affair.

With further excellence from Samuels in the second quarter, the margin only got wider. Navarro started making his mark with a terrific three just before the break to leave things at 54-32. Both in attack and offence, the Catalans were looking well in command.

The 4,000 spectators in the Palau were treated to their side going 25 ahead early in the third period. Without Pau Ribas or Dorsey and with Lawal on the bench, Pascual could afford the luxury of rotating his roster, which meant valuable court time for Eriksson and Vezenkov. The level remained as high, with Barça moving to 35 in front.

The playoffs have got off to the perfect start, and now the actions shifts to Fuenlabrada for game two on Sunday at 7.30pm CET, while if there is need of a third game, that one will be on Sunday 31 May at the Palau Blaugrana.