The Euroleague leader is no longer undefeated. After winning in fiefdoms like Munich or Istanbul, Fenerbahçe succumbed in their visit to the Palau, not without leaving their skin until the end. But Barça was not intimidated and confirmed that it continues to take small steps forward in the consolidation of the new project. Jasikevicius's team is growing and the rivals are beginning to suffer from their full potential.
With the two best defenses in Europe so far going head to head, the duel was a beautiful match from the start, each attack worked on the board, each point celebrated as a triumph. Barça came out somewhat giddy, conceding a 0-6 start. But it didn't take long for the team to recover from a restless Jasikevicius -technique included-, to whom Tobey, with a triple, gave him his first advantage of the night (11-10, m6).
With the two exes, the applauded Calathes and Nigel Hayes, in the background, the points of the unpredictable Motley fed Fenerbahçe's scoreboard, although Itoudis also drew many plays for Guduric, a real demon. On the Barça side, that responsibility once again had an Argentine flavour, with Laprovittola scoring 15 points at halftime -26 at the end-, including four triples. The fourth served to mark the maximum Barça difference in the first half (34-29), insufficient income to break a game that no one doubted was going to be very hard to crack.
The game was dynamited in the third act, when Barça went into a trance for a few minutes, generating a perfect storm that left the Turks without an answer. One triple, another, by Laprovittola started a spectacular 17-4 run, embellished with points by Tobey and Kalinic, which made it 60-44 in the bright Palau on the verge of entering the last quarter. But up front, Fenerbahçe was not going to let go, not with Itoudis giving voices on the wing, nor with Motley and Guduric determined to hit the Barça goal, supported in the comeback attempt by the second unit. Mahmutoglu cut to 78-76 in the last minute but the Turks died on the brink. Motley made a mistake on the last play, crushing the rim when a three-pointer forced extra time and Barça, an increasingly mature team, clinched the victory.
A triumph that, by the way, was witnessed live from the Palau box by Dejan Bodiroga, a Barça idol and the new boss of the Euroleague.
81- Barça (21 18 23 19): Satoransky (2), Laprovittola (26), Kalinic (14), Tobey (13), Sanli (6) -initial team-, Da Silva (-), Paulí (-), Vesely (4), Abrines (1), Higgins (3), Jokubaitis (8) and Nnaji (4).
80 - Fenerbahce Beko (19-17-13-31): Calathes (8), Wilbekin (6), Pierre (-), Hayes-Davis (3), Motley (23), Birsen (2), Hazer (6). Edwards (2), Mahmutoglu (11), Jekiri (4), Guduric (11) and Booker (4).
Referees: Matej Boltauzer (ESL), Tomislav Hordov (CRO) and Uros Nikolic (SER). Without eliminated.
Incidents: match of the sixth day of the Euroleague played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 6,815 spectators. The president of the Euroleague, Dejan Bodiroga, witnessed the match from the box.
