The Grimau era began for Barça in the Endesa League with a victory in the derby against Joventut (95-79). The Barcelona team put in a convincing performance, within the irregularity typical of this stage of the season. There were moments for various players to shine but it was not until a combustion phase of Brizuela and Willy Hernangómez (both finished with 10 points), two of the signings, coincided that the Blaugrana team made the definitive push.
Barça had threatened to leave earlier on the scoreboard because they were almost always ahead, but they had to wait for the magic of Brizuela and a couple of notable actions by Hernangómez to put the victory safely away. In front, Joventut fought with faith, with interesting minutes from one of their additions, Andrews (15), but that was not enough. Nor with Brodziansky's solvency (14 points). The green and black lacked defense.
Barça was scalded by their defeat in the Super Cup and Grimau asked his men to increase their defensive intensity, something they did, especially after the break. The Barcelona team still needs to adjust a lot, but things are looking good. Even Jabari Parker, another of the new players, showed some of his class after three years of injuries and became Barça's top scorer (13 points). Joel Parra faced his former teammates from Penya for the first time but only scored 5 points.
On the other hand, Baxi Manresa fell to Dreamland Gran Canaria (97-92), which woke up in the third quarter (38-22) to stop the dominance of the Catalan team in the first half. Geben stood out for Manresa, with 17 points.
Finally, Real Madrid beat Casademont Zaragoza 101-70 this Sunday thanks to their dominance of the interior zone, a game of quick transitions and success in mid-distance shooting.
Barça (22 22 23 27): Satoransky (10), Laprovittola (9), Parra (5), Da Silva (8), Hernangómez (10) -starting team-, Vesely (8), Brizuela (10), Jokubaitis ( 4), Kalinic (11), Parker (13), Abrines (7) and Nnaji (-).
Joventut Badalona (20 20 17 21): Feliz (11), Busquets (3), Andrews (15), Thomas (8), Tomic (6) -starting team-, Ribas (-), Brodziansky (14), Vives ( 7), Onuaku (12) and Kraag (3).
Referees: Juan Carlos García González, Luis Miguel Castillo and Alberto Baena. No eliminated.
Incidents: match on the first day of the Endesa League played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 6,644 spectators.
