The magic of Nico Laprovittola, who appeared providentially at the beginning of the third quarter to score 13 points and distribute 6 assists, guided Barça to its sixth victory in the Euroleague (79-68). The blaugrana recovered from their black week with a hard-fought victory, recovering their sensations of intensity, against a combative rival like Partizan.
After two consecutive defeats in four days, against Efes on Thursday and Joventut on Sunday, Barça had a noteworthy revalidation against Partizan. Zeljko Obradovic's men arrived at the Palau -for the first time since 2013 in an official match- as 8th place, but with only one defeat more than the blaugrana (4-4). Jasikevicius warned that the Serbs were coming "in a very good moment of form" after having won 9 of the last 10 games, 4 of 5 in the Euroleague. Another notice, like Istanbul day.
Contrary to the visit to Efes, Barça started fatally and corrected the course. They had to wait 14 minutes, at 26-25, to start marking the path to victory, after a great 9-2 run in four minutes at the start of the second quarter. The German Oscar Da Silva was providential in this reaction, with 5 points and 9 rebounds (13 PIR) in 11 minutes, the only one who imposed his quality.
However, in the absence of Da Silva (he appeared on the track at 15-19, finishing the first quarter), Barça del Palau was similar to that of Turkey, playing with bursts of inspiration, more due to quality individual interventions by Kalinic or Laprovittola , that by collective game. Thus, in the first quarter, the initial advantage (7-4) was diluted very soon and Partizan, with a boisterous Nunnally (7 points) was able to go within 6 points (15-21). "We have lacked toughness," admitted Saras. The first quarter ended with a 4-point deficit for the Blaugrana (17-21).
Barça appeared renewed in the second set, with Vesely, Jokubaitis and Da Silva contributing a 6-0 lead that equalized the duel and served as the launching pad for the comeback. After taking the first advantage (the aforementioned 26-25), the Blaugrana team played their best minutes. They brought out the artillery Laprovittola and Satoransky, and the team reached a maximum lead of 9 points (39-30), reduced to 7 by Lessort before the break. Barça had fixed the mess with a 22-11 set.
Barça, with a boiling Laprovittola (13 points, 6 assists in the third quarter), increased their lead to 17 points (69-52). But far from consolidating the income, it relaxed and the game slowed down, which Andjusic took advantage of to increase his tally to 23 points and gradually bring Partizan closer to 8 (74-66 with 2m16s to go). Luckily for the blaugrana, there was no more time and they were able to close their sixth victory in Europe (6-3).
The best of the final stretch was the reappearance of Kyle Kuric, who played the last 5 minutes. The American with a Slovakian passport had not played since October 2 against Baskonia, when he suffered a head injury.
Barça: Satoransky (11), Laprovittola (13), Kalinic (9), Tobey (5), Sanli (8); Vesely (4), Higgins (7), Abrines (6), Da Silva (5), Jokubaitis (8), Kuric (3).
Partizan: Madar (2), Leday (8), Papapetrou (4), Nunnally (10), Lessort (5); Exum (6), Punter (2), Andjusic (23), Brodziansky (3), Smailagic (2), Trifunovic.
Referees: Olegs Latisevs, Mehdi Difallah, Sergio Silva
Quarters: 17-21, 22-11, 25-17, 15-19.
Court: Palau Blaugrana.
