Barça gets rid of another bad time against Bayern
Jasikevicius’ men suffer until the last minute to push for the leadership of the Euroleague
MADRID, 2 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça beat Bayern Munich (72-70) this Thursday on matchday 23 of the Euroleague held at the Palau Blaugrana, a match required against the Germans, as was the last ‘playoff’, which the culé team won defending until the last chance.
Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team made it 15-8, to match Real Madrid and Olympiacos at the top, although with one more game, after sweating against a Bayern side that never gave up. Kalinic’s defense over Jaramaz prevented the extra time or even the victory that Bayern sought in the last play.
Barça had an offensive jam at a bad time that gave wings to the visitors when the match seemed blaugrana four minutes from the end (63-53). Between the tightness of this Euroleague and the memory of the ‘playoff’ between the two last year, which reached the fifth game, Barça was left with a certain drama, the exchange of blows with another good game by Satoransky, Jokubaitis and Vesely.
A Barça looking to see themselves at the top and take advantage of the momentum against Maccabi on Tuesday, came out with problems to break the German interior defense, which again put its intensity in the Palau, but had three hits with Sanli and Mirotic.
With two early fouls by Laprovittola, the home team pulled a very toned Satoransky already after his latest ankle problems and, despite missing a lot under the basket, managed a productive attack. With triples and a good defense, Barça took command (21-14), without being able to endorse it at the start of the second quarter.
The Catalan team had to put their picks and shovels to work, slowing down the outside shot and also the rhythm of the visitors. Barça had a good rotation, Abrines opening the gap (31-22), with good actions with recovery and a quick basket, but Weiler-Babb and Rubit left the difference at halftime (34-33).
Those of ‘Saras’ came back thick and a German partial was a new wake-up call. Bayern did not fully find their foreign success and thus Barça was able to continue in the fight, with Satoransky’s five points in the game. Thus, the local team returned the set, with the character of Abrines and a triple by Jokubaitis.
With the situation under control, the culé team again complicated a game due to lack of sentence. Without scoring for several minutes, a 0-9 run provided a tight finish. Higgins, a rebound from Vesely, a three-pointer from Mirotic and that Kalinic defense allowed Barça to seal the weekly plenary session.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: BARÇA, 72 – BAYERN MUNICH, 70. (34-33, at halftime).
–TEAMS.
BARÇA: Satoransky (5), Laprovittola (5), Kalinic (4), Mirotic (12) and Sanli (10) –starting five–; Vesely (10), Da Silva (3), Abrines (7), Higgins (9), Jokubaitis (7).
BAYERN MÚNICH: Winston (4), Weiler-Babb (15), Bonga (2), Rubit (10) and Gillespie (3) –quinteto inicial–; Wimberg (9), Walden (9), Giffey (4), Zipser (-), Jaramaz (12).
–PARTIALS: 21-14, 13-19, 17-14, 21-23.
–REFEREES: Belosevic, Mogulkoc and Majkic. No deleted.
–HALL: Palau Blaugrana.