Lokomotiv Kuban v FC Barcelona Lassa: Defeat in game one (66-61)

FC Barcelona Lassa lost game one of their Euroleague quarter final series, 66-61 at Lokomotiv Kuban. And that was despite leading for most of the evening, but without ever managing to build-up enough of a margin. Pau Ribas and Àlex Abrines led the FCB scoring with 13 and 10 points each.

Justin Doellman led the way early doors with nine of Barça’s first ten points, with a three from Ribas edging the visitors ahead at the end of the first period (12-17).  

Barça played their best game in the second, moving to +9 with some great play from Tomic and Samuels on the paint. But it was the defences that stood out for both sides in this quarter, and the gap between them was back down to four by the time of the interval (27-31).

Lokomotiv went 8-2 shortly after the restart to tie the game on 35 each, but a three from Abrines (35-38) helped tip things back the other way. The Russians were looking more and more settled as the minutes ticked by, and going into the final period, there was only one point in it.

Barça Lassa would ultimately pay the price for not scoring when it really counted. The final quarter progressed with a series of exchanges of scores, whereupon Lokomotiv eventually moved ahead at 62-61 thanks to Draper. Finally getting in front bolstered their confidence and drew Barça into forced and unforced errors, with the game ending 66-61. Next Friday, the teams will go at it again before the series heads to Barcelona for games three and four.