So yes. After several games flirting with a very poor version, Barça once again took out the outfit of the big nights, the same one with which they had started the season like a shot, and signed a high-level victory. Grimau's team secured its second place in the Euroleague after emerging victorious from the legendary Pionir in Belgrade, where Maccabi currently plays its games due to the war with Palestine.
A very competitive Barça team was seen on the pitch, capable of responding to the challenge posed by Kattash's team, a complete offensive festival in which the Blaugrana looked much more comfortable than in more tactical duels. Grimau's team overcame the losses of Vesely and Jokubaitis thanks to a night of basketball in which all the players contributed their bit. Special mention, however, deserves Laprovittola, who acted as a leader as very few are capable of, keeping calm in the most tense situations and scoring when he played.
But it would be unfair to personalize the visitor's victory only in the Argentine. Abrines contributed points in key moments, Willy Hernangómez emerged in a great first half, Nnaji surely had his best game in terms of demand and, it is unforgivable not to highlight it, Kalinic was a total player at home.
Maccabi dominated the first half with a Baldwin IV who, as usual against Barça, had an inspired night, although he never managed to break the game, with 25-18 being the maximum distance he obtained. In a back-and-forth scenario, the Barça team managed well, with good minutes from Brizuela in the second quarter, which ended with the attacks destroying the defenses and the score being equal (51-51).
Barça came out of the locker room very focused and signed a 0-10 partial that gave them their highest of the night in a Pionir without an audience, reminiscent of the covid era. But within seconds, Hernangómez and Nnaji committed their fourth personal foul and things got complicated.
Equality, tension and emotion presided over the final stretch. Baldwin did Barça a favor by being excluded for two technicals – what a character he is – but immediately, like minutes before, almost consecutively, Hernangómez and Nnaji were excluded for five fouls and Barça had to play the last 3m2s without centers. Maccabi took advantage with second chance points but Laprovittola was not willing to let the victory slip away. Although he missed two important free throws, he scored the last three points of the game and, instead, Lorenzo Brown missed a triple at the buzzer that sealed the Barça victory.
90 - Maccabi Tel Aviv (31-20-17-22): Brown (12), Baldwin (19), Cohen (7), Colson (11), Nebo (13) -starting team-, Webb (-), Menco (-) , Sorkin (8), Cleveland (9) and Rivero (11).
92 - Barça (26 25 19 22): Satoransky (5), Laprovittola (23), Kalinic (8), Da Silva (2), Hernangómez (13) -starting team-, Paulí (-), Parker (10), Nnaji (11), Brizuela (2), Parra (2) and Abrines (16).
Referees: Mehdi Difallah (FRA), Milan Nedovic (SER) and Hugues Thepenier (FRA). They eliminated the locals Baldwin with two technical fouls (min.6 and 35), and with five fouls against the local Cleveland (min.40) and the visitors Nnaji (min.37) and Hernangómez (min.37). They called out an unsportsmanlike foul against the visitor Hernangómez (min.1) and the visiting bench (min.37).
Incidents: match of the tenth day of the Euroleague played at the Aleksandar Nikolic Hall in Belgrade (Serbia) behind closed doors.
