Barça 96-92 Joventut de Badalona: Debut win

101 days later basketball returned and Barça celebrated with a victory. After the enforced break due to the Covid-19 public health crisis, the blaugranes made their debut in the Liga Endesa play off in an empty Pavelló Fuente de San Luís and despite the absence of fans, Pesic's side were able to get off to a winning start with a 96-92 victory over Joventut de Badalona to register their first points in Group A. Mirotic and Claver were with 16 and 12 points respectively, top scoring for Barça. 

Barça came out on to the court as if the three month break had never taken place with Claver notching eight early points himself as the blaugranes raced into a 16-2 lead. However, Joventut held their nerve and by minute 12 they were level at 21-21. Pesic's team turned up the pressure and a run of 12 unanswered points towards the end of the half gave them a comfortable 44-30 lead at the break. 

In the second half Mirotic, who had only scored one three pointer in the first half, came to the fore for Barça. The Montenegrin lead the team on offence reaching 10 points with a flurry of scoring - a good sign if Barça are to be contenders for the overall title. 

At one point Barça had been 19 points up in the game but Joventut under coach Carles Duran never gave up and 12 points in a row brought it back to 78-69 with seven minutes left to play. The comeback continued and with just seconds remaining the game was in the balance with the blaugranes' lead cut to just two points at 92-90. However, Barça saw Abrines dunk and then Mirotic nail two free throws to ensure victory in a game in which the team sported a shirt bearing the slogan 'Black Lives Matter' to show their support for the fight against racism. 

MATCH STATS

Barça, 96
Joventut de Badalona, 92

Barça: Higgins (11), Hanga (11), Claver (12), Mirotic (16), Tomic (6) –starting five– Davies (4), Pangos (6), Pustovyi (4), Oriola (5), Abrines (9), Kuric (8), Bolmaro (4).
Joventut de Badalona: Dimitrijevic (10), Parra (2), López Aróstegui (12), Morgan (21), Omic (14) –starting five– Busquets (7), Kanter (2), Parrado (5), Ventura (8), Zagars (5), Stevic (6).