The culés add their eighth victory in a row in the Euroleague after beating the PAO in a very tight final
MADRID, 16 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça won its eighth consecutive victory in the Euroleague this Thursday after attacking the always difficult OAKA thanks to the excellent performance of Nikola Mirotic (20 points) and Nicolás Laprovittola, who went to 18, in a match that allows the Catalans to consolidate their status as leaders after 16 days in the ‘Old Continent’.
Saras Jasikevicius’s team had to don their overalls to emerge victorious from Athens. The blaugranas started like a thousand wonders, they suffered a loss that could be definitive and they got up for good with Mirotic, who appeared when the horizon was painted black. The Spanish-Montenegrin was crucial with 32 PIR points.
Laprovittola was the first to send a warning to the Hellenic team. Two triples in a row were his calling card, but Panthinaikos – slowly but surely – was heating up the stake with a remarkable inside game and a lot of strength on the rebound. Papagiannis soon took over the painting and complicated things for a Barça that lost charm and conditions.
Papapetrou (16 points) joined the local reaction in a second quarter that buried the Catalans (23-15). Everything indicated that the victory would stay at home – however – the second half began by breaking the script from beginning to end. The good ending of the Greeks did not have continuity in the third quarter and Barça drew their rifle.
The Catalans took advantage of the short circuit of the PAO and – thanks to an outstanding Mirotic – they were cutting the disadvantage. From 49-41 to 56-57 at minute 25. Barça did the most difficult thing and only had to give it continuity in the remaining time.
Those of Dimitris Priftis -who came to the game after falling to Armani Milan last Tuesday-, could not recover despite the good final balance they found under the basket. The game was equalized again and there were even options for a PAO that continued to believe in the heat of OAKA thanks to that final ‘rusf’.
Barça won by 9 points at one minute to 40, but an absurd loss and a triple by Nedovic from home were enough to put fear in the body of the Catalans. The free kicks and Kuric prevented a scare that would have been greater after the great final stretch of the Barcelona fans. One more and continue at the top of the table.
DATASHEET.
–RESULT: PANATHINAIKOS, 82 – BARÇA, 85.
–EQUIPMENT.
PANATHINAIKOS: Macon Jr (4), Sant-Roos (13), Papapetrou (16), White (9) y Papagiannis (11) –quinteto initial–; Perry 34), Kaselakis (-), Evans (8), Mantzoukas (-) and Nedovic (18).
BARÇA: Laprovittola (18), Exum (4), Mirotic (20), Oriola (-) and Sanli (5) –initial quintet– Kuric (9), Davies (12), Smits (8), Jokubaitis (9) ) and Caicedo (-).
–PARTIALS: 26-26, 23-15, 15-27, 18-17.
– REFEREES: Ryzhyk, Rocha and Hordov. Without eliminated.
–PABILITION: OAK Altion. 6,122 spectators.