Like a sock, the shrinking Barça of Bologna became a growing Barça against the powerful Fenerbahçe to sign a victory that was as restorative as it was encouraging. The Barça team completed a high-profile second half to defeat a rival full of threats and reaffirm themselves.
Barça started by showing its softer side in defense and returned to the locker room with 50 points conceded at half-time. It is not the first time this has happened and that represents a huge burden for Grimau's team, forced to row against the current on too many occasions.
The Blaugrana started well, but Vesely's 12-4 score acted as an alarm clock for a Fenerbahçe team with familiar faces in its ranks, especially applauded Calathes and a Sanli who returned the affection by leading the Turkish comeback. A triple from the former Barça center gave the first lead of the night to Itoudis' team (16-17), which from there began to build with a second unit led by Dorsey and Wilbekin that was scary.
Accustomed to quenching their thirst with three-pointers, Barça couldn't find shots and it took 12 minutes to add three points at once for the first time. On the other hand, Fenerbahçe was very inspired from downtown and scored 8/11 in the first half that destroyed Barça. Three triples in a row by the Turks began to set off alarm bells at the Palau (32-42), confirmed after Madar suddenly stopped the reaction that a successful Parra seemed to want to lead. And all this with Guduric, with two fouls, on the bench practically from the first minute. A Wilbekin signature basket at the buzzer closed the first half with the maximum for Fenerbahçe: 38-50.
The problem was well detected by Barça, who just had to tighten the screws defending and match their rival in fouls to almost balance the score. Nigel Hayes-Davis, whose name barely remains from the shadow of a player who passed through Barcelona, was excellent supporting his team, but a very ambitious Willy Hernangómez led the comeback of a Barça team that eliminated Fenerbahçe by 14 points in the third quarter to make it 63-64 that marked an exciting final stretch.
That trend continued in the last act, which began with 6 points from Laprovittola that after many minutes returned control to Barça. More serene, and aware of the significance of the duel, the Blaugranas withstood all the Turkish attacks to complete a second half that bordered on excellence and add a level victory.
89. Barça (16 22 25 26): Satoransky (12), Laprovittola (15), Kalinic (7), Da Silva (0), Vesely (12) -starting team-, Hernangómez (21), Parker (8), Abrines (3), Jokubaitis (3), Parra (8) and Brizuela (0).
81. Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (19 33 14 17): Calathes (0), Pierre (5), Guduric (4), Hayes-Davis (18), Motley (15) -starting team-, Wilbekin (10), Dorsey ( 13, Sanli (7), Biberovic (3), Madar (6) and Sestina (0).
Referees: Damir Javor (ESL), Milivoje Jovcic (SER) and Arturas Sukys (LIT). Sin eliminated.
Incidents: match of the thirteenth round of the Euroleague played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 6,787 spectators.
