BarcelonaBarça lost on Zalgiris’ court, a direct rival in the fight for the play-off positions in the Euroleague. The Lithuanian team’s strategy prevailed over the Blaugrana squad for the second time this season (83-71). Moses Wright and Sylvain Francisco, two players that the Palau Blaugrana dreams of, completed a great performance. The center scored 18 points and 11 rebounds. The point guard contributed to the home team’s victory with 14 points, all in the last period, and 8 assists.
Kevin Punter (16 points) and Jan Vesely (14) were the best for a Barça that ran out of steam again when they needed it most. “Losing Satoransky was crucial for us,” analyzed Xavi Pascual.
Barça, who committed no personal fouls in the entire first quarter, started the game with offensive success but weak defense. Zalgiris took advantage of offensive rebounds to score easy points (22-21). The shooting accuracy of both teams was very high in a first half that the Catalan team closed with a minimal advantage thanks to a triple from Kevin Punter (39-40).
Zalgiris tried to prevent Barça from speeding up the game in every possible way. The Blaugrana team, which could not use Tomás Satoransky during the second half due to a knock, struggled to keep up with the scoring pace of the home team, who displayed their usual collective play (73-61).
Barça’s comeback attempts were met by Francisco, who finished the game with indefensible inspiration, and by a focused team that secured the victory.
