Barcelona have banished their ghosts and will face Christmas with a better face after winning in Kaunas. It worked with external successes in the first minutes and defensive adjustments in the last quarter when Zalgiris was ahead on the scoreboard. It wasn't a great game for Grimau's men, but they played with the character needed to win on the heated Lithuanian pitch, even if the local side has been going through a results crisis since November.
After a worrying start, Barcelona recovered thanks to its attacking success and won the first ten minutes with a clear difference in its favor (22-28), but in the second quarter of the game it faltered in defense and although he continued to score, He saw Birutis and Ulanovas start bombing his basket and Smits grabbed the rebound. Although they continued to dominate at halftime (51-56), things were not so clear in defense and attack, and even less so when the third quarter clearly belonged to Zalgiris. The hands of Barça's shooters began to shake and they achieved a terrible record in the first minutes of the second half, failing to score a three-pointer in eight attempts. Zalgiris took the lead (62-60) and continued to dominate the scoreboard for many minutes until a three-pointer from Brizuela restored peace on the Barça side (73-75). By this point, Barcelona had already regained order, while Zalgiris was showing signs of physical and perhaps mental fatigue after consecutive home defeats.
Laprovittola appeared, who became the top scorer (18 points), said Vesely; Kalinic and Parker formed a wall on the rebound and things started to go differently. “We had to make small defensive adjustments and maintain the attack,” admitted Grimau.
With 35 seconds left, with 80-81 on the scoreboard, Dimsa committed a foul in the rushing attack of Zalgiris, Laprovittola scored both free throws (80-83) and in the next action a good defense of Barça prevented the local annotation. With 13 seconds left, Satoranski gave the penalty after another foul by Zalgiris (80:85) to free Barcelona from the crisis of the last few days and move them to second place in the table, level with Virtus Bologna.
In Istanbul, a gesture from Dusko Ivanovic was very significant. The Baskonia coach, not given to such gestures, turned to Markus Howard when the American committed his fifth foul and gave him a loving hug. His team won in the last minute and his 28 points were crucial for his team's victory. Between him and Miller-Mcintyre they defeated Efes (80-87). The game leader of the Vitorian team was just one rebound away from the triple double (14 points, 10 assists, 9 rebounds), something that no one in the Euroleague has achieved since Calates in 2019, the only time in the last 17 years of the tournament.
In a very even game until the last quarter, with consecutive draws and few advantages for each of the teams, Howard came into action in the last ten minutes to increase the lead to eleven points and get back on track ahead of Macabbi after the defeat in Belgrade come . Baskonia is now sixth with nine wins and has a good chance of achieving its goal of making it into the top eight.
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