Barça 81-88 Zalgiris Kaunas: Victory slips away
The Barça basketball team saw victory slip away in the final quarter of their Euroleague clash with Zalgiris Kaunas at the Palau Blaugrana. The Lithuanians took advantage of their excellent shooting to turn around a 10 point deficit going into the fourth period to take a 88-81 win in Barcelona.
Robinson back amongst the positives
After three successive away game and give days without a game, the Palau was expectant. However, it was Zalgiris who got off to a good start taking a 12-6 lead despite two three pointers from blaugrana Justin Robinson.
Coach Sekulic was boosted by the return of Josh Nebo and a debut for Tosan Evbuomwan, both contributing to Barça's inside game early on.
Dominant until final quarter
A 23-18 deficit for the blaugranes was turned around over the next two quarters. Punter and Balcerowski combined to put Barça on the front foot with a three pointer from Martin making it 31-25 to the home team. Zalgiris rallied but Sekulic's team still took a 41-39 lead into the break.
The third quarter followed a similar pattern. Robinson led the way and Umude nailed three pointers only for Grigonis and Valanciuna to keep Zalgiris in the game. Five points on the bounce from Brizuela extended Barça's advantage to a healthy 10 points at 65-55 going into the fourth quarter.
Final period collapse
The final quarter saw the Lithuanians determined to come back. Zalgiris cut into Barça's lead quickly as the blaugranes had no answer to the shooting of Carsen Edwards and Sleva. The visitors stormed back in front to lead 76-72, a lead they were never to lose. Barça failed to rally and an 88-81 defeat leaves them 2 and 2 in the Euroleague so far this season with three more home games to come over the next week starting with a league clash against Valencia on Sunday.
MATCH STATS
Barça: 81
Zalgiris: 88
Barça: Robinson (20), Martin (6), Punter (9), Parra (4), Balcerowski (7) - starting five - Gibson (3), Umude (6), Brizuela (7), Nkamhoua (3), Núñez (4), Evbuomwan (8), Nebo (4).
Zalgiris: Edwards (19), Lee (5), Butkevicius (5), Sleva (14), Valanciunas (12) - starting five - Brown (2), Giedraitis (-), Tubelis (8), Lo (4), Blazevic (0), Grigonis (12), Ulanovas (7).
Quarters: 18-23, 23-16, 24-16, 16-33.