There is no way. Barça does not know how to win away from the Palau Blaugrana in the Euroleague: 11 games, 7 defeats with yesterday's defeat in Milan, the third in a row. They have not won at home since December 22 in Kaunas. Their game in Italy was regrettable, except for a great third quarter (10-21) and a good performance by Jan Vesely (28 points, 3 rebounds), insufficient to come back, although in the end they came within 2 points (72-70).
Barça's initiative in the Mediolanum Forum lasted barely 5 minutes. Jabari Parker's 7-8 (4m27s) was the last advantage enjoyed by Roger Grimau's team, a soft team, harmless in attack and contemplative in defense. The good start, with 4 points from Vesely and 2 from Kalinic (4-6), was a mirage. As soon as the Armani Milan warmed up, the Blaugrana resistance began to melt like butter. The final acceleration of the first quarter, a 9-0 partial, left the Blaugrana very affected: from 14-12 to 23-12, eleven points down, which showed Barça's weakness and lack of reaction, terrible in shooting (5 /13) in the first quarter.
Following Murphy's law, the Blaugrana team sank further in the second set (24-16), in which they lost by 20 points, Shields' 45-25. No one appeared in Barça, despite the timid emergence of Willy Hernangómez who added 4 points, but that's where it stayed. As an example of the offensive disaster, a button: the first triple did not arrive until there were 22 seconds left, Jabari Parker's 45-28. A calamity, 20 minutes to score a triple. “We have to defend better, if we defend more solidly we will attack better,” Grimau predicted at half-time (47-28), surpassed by Ettore Messina's book.
After hitting rock bottom in the first half, Barça changed the mentality in the locker room and increased defensive intensity. The 10-21 score in the third quarter fueled their faith, since they went from losing by 19 to only 8 (57-49) in a period in which Vesely shone, going to 22 points to lead the great reaction of his team. Laprovittola and Satoransky had it in their hands to get to -5, but they missed their triples in the last minute; The statistics were very poor, with 2/10 from 6.75.
The good play of the third quarter did not worsen in the last 10 minutes, in which Barça once again faltered, and the rival, lived off the Blaugrana's mistakes. Thus, Poythress' 64-51 with 3m30 left seemed definitive. But Barça still tried. Parker, with his team's 4th triple in 16 attempts, brought the score closer to -5 (69-64) with 2 minutes remaining. And Kalinic, only -2 (72-70) with 7 seconds left with a late triple. Barça drowned on the shore. Seventh defeat in 11 away games. And yet, Barça remains second in the Euroleague with its presence in the playoffs on track.
