Barça 111-109 UNICS Kazan: Epic fightback at the Palau

A spectacular victory to end the year of basketball at the Palau. Barça beat UNICS Kazan 111-109 in a game that produced 40 minutes of electric action, including an epic comeback, an absolute thriller of a finale, and with it all decided in overtime. It was quite simply one of the most amazing EuroLeague games that Barça have ever been involved in.

The first period was just a taster for what was to come. Intrepid, attacking play from both teams, with former Barça man Henzonja and a stunning Mirotic standing head and shoulders above the rest.

There was just one point in it going into the second period, but then UNICS Kazan found their touch, particularly with threes, while the Barça scoring dried up. The Russians led by nine at the interval.

With Lorenzo Brown inspired, Barça looked totally overpowered in the third period as the visitors extended their lead to what would usually be an game-winning lead of +20.

And yet the Palau refused to believe it was over. Some fine moments from Rokas, both Mirotic and Kuric totally plugged in, and an 11-0 streak from the home side suddenly made the impossible look that little bit more possible. Incredibly, Barça managed to cancel out the deficit and tied the game at 94-94. We were going to overtime.

Neither side managed to dominate the additional minutes, but with the Palau behind them and following their remarkable fightback, Barça never stopped believing and eventually took this wonderful game of basketball 111-109. Barça are now 15-2 in the regular season, their best record at this stage of the competition of all time.

MATCH STATS

Barça: Laprovittola (12), Exum (13), Mirotic (28), Oriola (4), Davies (2), Kuric (24), Rokas Jokubaitis (15), Sanli (5), Smits (8) Caicedo (-).

UNICS Kazan: Lorenzo Brown (27), Uzinski (3), Mrio Hezonja (18), Vorontsevich (2), John Brown (21), Canaan (20), Brantley (-), O.J. Mayo (6), Jekiri (10), Spissu (2).

Periods: 27-28 / 37-46 / 57-74 / 94-94 / 111-109 (OT)

Referees: Damir Javor, Mehdi Difallah, Rain Peerandi.