Barça faces Fenerbahçe to avoid a black week
BARCELONA, 9 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça visits Fenerbahçe this Friday at the Ulker Sports And Event Hall (6:45 p.m.) on matchday 28 of the Regular Phase of the Euroleague, in a second consecutive visit to teams from the upper zone and with the ‘culer’ will to avoid a possible black week after falling in Piraeus against Olympiacos.
The slogan is clear; gain. If they manage to topple Fenerbahçe in Istanbul, Sarunas Jasikevicius’ men, now third in the table, would not lose face in the upper zone. But, if they lose to a direct rival who could equalize them in case of victory (and also win a pending duel), it would be closing the key week in the worst way.
These two games against Olympiacos and Fenerbahçe were seen as two finals in which to measure the real level of Barça ahead of the ‘Playoffs’ and the ‘Final Four’. And, despite starting very well in Piraeus, the blaugrana lost the hit and the north in the second and third quarters to sentence themselves.
So at the ‘Fener’s’ home, the blaugranas must come out focused and maintain the intensity of the game throughout the game. Winning is essential to stay on top, to avoid making the hole that was created against the Greeks bigger and, above all, to face the final stretch of the Regular Season with options to be seeded for the ‘Playoffs’.
The Turks, like Barça, have also come from losing. In his case, at the Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv against Maccabi (78-74) and with a script similar to the one Barça suffered in Piraeus. They started winning to, in the middle of the match, lose their options despite the good performance of Dyshawn Pierre and Nigel Hayes-Davis.
Precisely, for Hayes-Davis and for Nick Calathes it will be a special match against his former team. Due to the starting conditions, due to the little weight they had or the little incidence despite the high expectations, for all this there will be a special morbidity shared with the fact that, positively, the now blaugrana Jan Vesely will return to the Fenerbahçe fiefdom, who played 8 years in the Turkish team.
DATASHEET.
–EQUIPMENT.
FENERBAHÇE BEKO ISTANBUL: Calathes, Wilbekin, Pierre, Hayes-Davis and Motley –possible starting quintet–; Edwards, Bjelica, Mahmutoglu, Jekiri, Guduric, Dorsey and Booker.
BARÇA: Laprovittola, Satoransky, Kalinic, Mirotic and Vesely –possible starting five–; Sanli, Abrines, Higgins, Tobey, Kuric, Jokubaitis and Nnaji.
–REFEREES: Pukl, Rocha and Nikolic.
–PAVIL: Ulker Sports And Event Hall.