Barça made up for their defeat in Kaunas a few weeks ago and continued drawing a promising path in this Euroleague, which is already facing dinner time before the playoffs. Jasikevicius's men did not have much mercy for a Zalgiris very wrapped up in a Palau greener than ever and they remain on the lookout for Olympiacos and Real Madrid, in search of the best possible match in the last stop before the final four... in Kaunas .
Nikola Mirotic shone with his own light, who is beginning to offer convincing signs that his injury is nothing more than a closed chapter of the past, signing displays like the one the Barca fans enjoyed against Zalgiris. Beyond the numbers (28 points with very high shooting percentages), the Barça star was very fast running the court and very agile with the ball in his hands. The best news for a Barça that needs to park the cup disappointment as soon as possible and face the final stretch of the season with the best possible feelings.
Little did the first quarter give a glimpse of what would come next. It was very difficult for the Barça team to enter the game against a Zalgiris who scored easily thanks to the fundamentals of their players when it came to solving individual plays. But the Lithuanians ran into a very inspired Mirotic, who scored 12 points in those first minutes.
Very fine in the outside shot, the locals began to build the victory in the second act, in which they stretched to 42-31. Although the game definitely exploded after the break, when Barça drilled into the rival basket as if there were no tomorrow (31 points) while maintaining a great defensive level. A slap from Mirotic before going to the bench to rest, he had earned it, made it 74-48 (minute 28). Zalgiris was able to make up the score somewhat in the last quarter, although his fate was already sentenced.
93 - Barça (19 27 31 16) Satoransky (12), Laprovittola (6), Kalinic (5), Mirotic (28), Vesely (7) -cinco inicial-, Sanli (10), Abrines (5), Higgins ( 3), Tobey (5), Kuric (2), Jokubaitis (5) and Nnaji (5).
74 - Zalgiris Kaunas (17 19 18 20): Taylor (4), Brazdeikis (15), Ulanovas (7), Smits (6), Hayes (8) -cinco inicial-, Giedraitis (0), Lekavicius (7), Birutis (12), Polonara (8), Dimsa (1) and Butkevicius (6).
Arbitros: Damir Javor (ESL), Anne Panther (ALE) and Luka Kardum (CRO). Son eliminated.
Incidents: match of the twenty-sixth day of the Euroleague played at the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona before 5,545 spectators. Before the initial whistle, the manager responsible for the basketball section, Josep Cubells, gave Smits a gift in recognition of the four seasons he spent at Barça.
