Barça is undefeated in La Mano de Elías
MADRID, 28 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça conceded their first defeat in the Regular Phase of the Euroleague 2021-2022 after losing this Thursday clearly by 85-68 in their visit to the Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv, after a terrible first half that was key to stop being unbeaten.
56 points received the leader of the maximum continental competition in the first 20 minutes. A difficult slab to lift, especially if there are only 26 in the scoring box. That advantage, despite the visitor’s reaction in the third quarter, was enough for the locals to chain their fourth consecutive victory and the fifth in a row in their boiler of ‘ The Hand of Elías’ before the Catalan team.
This time there was no room for an agonizing end. Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team put together a bad staging and this time it cost them dearly. Nikola Mirotic (17 points) and Corey Higgins (20) were very alone against a Maccabi that this year has redoubled its bet to regain prominence and that had five players in double-digit scoring led by James Nunnally (17).
Barça started their ‘Nightmare before Halloween’ very soon. Despite the fact that Mirotic, the hero of Tuesday in Istanbul, hit with his first triple and his start seemed positive, the losses (5) and the lack of success from the line of three began to weigh on him against an opponent, whose physique prevailed in attack and defense.
The errors in attack were not wasted by the Maccabean team to make the first blow (21-14, min.7). The entry of unit ‘B’ led by Jalen Reynolds, the inspiration of the best version of the ‘extanja’ Derrick Williams and a final triple by Wilbekin closed a bad first quarter (31-18).
Once again in the European competition the Blaugrana team had to go in tow, but this time there was no hint of reaction. Maccabi continued to be very successful, especially from the triple (6/10 at halftime), dominated the rebound and found the player in Nunnally to clearly break the game (45-24, min.16).
THE BOAT RAISES ITS INTENSITY
The forward signed ten points in this second period and despite the attempts of Higgins and Mirotic, the defense of the current runner-up could not stop the attack of Sfairopoulos, with eight players contributing. In the final bars he also found Zizic and at halftime the Israeli team led by a severe 56-36.
Barça needed to toughen its defense to have any option in ‘La Mano de Elias’. And in that he struggled to assert his great third-quarter start. Two triples by Mirotic and a basket by Davies signed a 0-8 to set the course somewhat (56-44, min.22). Sfairopoulos immediately stopped the game, but Maccabi was no longer comfortable on the pitch.
However, Wilbekin, with a triple, and several errors in attack by the visitors, again gave the Israeli team some air (63-46, min. 26), but the dynamics of the match seemed to have undergone a change, with the locals who made the losses they had hardly suffered in the first half. Barça did not get the maximum revenue from him and still had to come back above ten for the final quarter (65-54).
On the other hand, the start was not so positive and a triple from the inspired Nunnally made things steeper again (70-54). Jasikevicius’s experiment with Calathes and Laprovittola did not work and the Lithuanian returned Higgins to the court to recover offensive success. But in the absence of less than five minutes, the Blaugrana victory seemed almost impossible (74-58) and the undefeated remained in Tel Aviv.
DATASHEET.
– RESULT: MACABBI TEL AVIV, 85 – BARÇA, 68 (56-36, at halftime).
–EQUIPMENT.
MACCABI PLAYTIKA TEL AVIV: Wilbekin (16), Evans (9), Taylor (7), Williams (12) and Zizic (10) –initial quintet–; Caloiaro (2), Reynolds (10), Sorkin (2), Nunnally (17) and Ziv (-).
BARÇA: Calathes (9), Higgins (20), Kuric (3), Mirotic (17) and Sanli (-) –initial quintet–; Davies (8), Smits (2), Hayes-Davis (-), Laprovittola (5), Jokubaitis (4), Martínez (-) and Caicedo (-).
–PARTIAL: 31-18, 25-18, 9-18 and 20-14.
– REFEREES: Boltauzer, Radovic and Rocha.
– PAVILION: Menora Mivtachim Arena. 10,445 spectators.