Barça is happy at the Palau against a poor Zalgiris
Nikola Mirotic leads the fifth consecutive victory for the Catalans in the Euroleague
MADRID, 2 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça successfully managed (93-74) the visit of Zalgiris to the Palau Blaugrana this Thursday, on matchday 26 of the Regular Phase of the Euroleague, to continue its winning streak and continue chasing the lead, also claiming the revenge of the defeat of the first round in the Zalgirio Arena.
Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team, who managed to turn the average around after the 73-72 defeat of Kaunas, continued their good form by adding their fifth consecutive victory in Europe. The culé team (18/8) definitively turned the page on their cupbearer stumble with a resounding victory that consolidates them in the ‘Top 4’ to keep up with Real Madrid and Olympiacos at the top of the table.
Nikola Mirotic’s spectacular game (28 points) was enough to defeat a poor Lithuanian team (13/13) that will continue one more day out of the places that give access to the ‘Play-off’ after adding their second straight defeat in the maximum continental competition.
At the Palau, the tribute to former Blaugrana player Rolands Smits, now in the ranks of Zalgiris, preceded a somewhat hesitant start to the game with a low scoring rate. Jan Vesely and the Montenegrin player shared the points for a culé team that only worked from the paint. Even so, it was a three-pointer from Mirotic with five seconds left that settled the first quarter for the locals (19-17).
With a little more success from the line of three, the blaugrana began to take control of a game that they decided at the beginning of the second ten minutes. Three-pointers from Sanly and Tobey paved the way for a Barcelona that also set up defense. Mirotic once again rose above the rest to dominate the entire offensive plot and send his team to the locker room above the score (46-36).
After the restart the script remained on the track. The team led by Jasikevicius left the locker room with one more march that soon turned into points. Thus, the duo formed by ‘Nicos’, with Laprovittola appearing for the first time in the entire game, was decisive in extending the lead to 14. Although Kazys Maksvytis’ men threatened to come back, Satoransky joined the party to also dominate the third quarter (77-54).
Barça, who continued to put their finger on the sore at the beginning of the last set, slowed down their momentum a bit by lowering the speed of a clash that was already signed for a sentence. Brazdeikis wanted to make up the result with a good scoring run, but the positive inertia of the culé team, added to the bulk of the income obtained, was too much for a Zalgiris who had to give up at the end.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: BARÇA, 93 – ZALGIRIS KAUNAS, 74. (46-36, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
BARÇA: Satoransky (12), Laprovittola (6), Kalinic (5), Mirotic (28) and Vesely (7) –starting five–; Sanli (10), Abrines (5), Higgins (3), Tobey (5), Kuric (2), Jokubaitis (5) and Nnaji (5).
ZALGIRIS KAUNAS: Taylor (4), Brazdeikis (15), Ulanovas (7), Smits (6) and Hayes (8) –quintet initial–; Giedraitis (-), Lekavicius (7), Birutis (12), Lukosiunas (-), Polonara (8), Dimsa (1) and Butkevicius (6).
–PARTIALS: 19-17, 27-19, 31-18, 16-20.
–REFEREES: Javor, Panther and Kardum.
–HALL: Palau Blaugrana.