euroleague day 16
Red Star
barca
The roller-coaster ride of 2022 ended for Barcelona with a long-suffering win over Red Star (94-99) in a great game led by Barça’s late-stage reaction. Jasikevicius’ men rose from 12 points behind in the fourth quarter and prevailed in extra time to join Baskonia at the top of the Euroleague table. The Pionir was a cauldron carrying much of the game on the wings but a huge three-pointer from Mirotic on the buzzer froze the Belgrade stands and sent the game into overtime where the Catalans made the comeback and capitalized on their positive Inertia. An accolade for 2023, which will begin with the Clásico against Real Madrid at Wizink.
Barcelona went through a merry-go-round of emotions. An impressive start seemed to reignite a quiet afternoon but as Ivanovic’s men tightened the screws the Blaugranas were in doubt. The reaction didn’t come in a rush, but gradually boiled until it boiled on the last stretch. The Red Star had the victory in their hands, but could not seal it beforehand due to poor outside odds (3 out of 20 in a threesome). Although they never lost the pulse of the game, they were overwhelmed by the Catalans’ inertia.
Satoransky (19 points and 10 assists) was key to Barça’s best moments. The Czech’s wrist shone in a first quarter in which he hit four clean threes and reappeared in overtime to seal the win. Despite his great performance, the highlight of the evening was Mirotic’s great threesome to set the game on buzzer when Dusko Ivanovic was already licking his lips on the bench. The Barça Montenegrin didn’t have his day, failing under the basket (he made 1 of 5 baskets from two) but performing with action for few within reach.
Previously, Serbian center Filip Petrusev had powered up Pionir with immense play (24 points and 9 rebounds). The Catalans suffered martyrdom every time Sanli or Mirotic had to find him in the colour, and they breathed a sigh of relief when he was ruled out for an extra-time foul. Petrusev and Nedovic (24 points and 7 assists) led the great run for Red Star, which went from a 15-point deficit (19-34) early in the second quarter to a 12-point lead (69-57) early in the second quarter of the second quarter, the last quarter rose partially.
Barcelona responded with Sanli and Abrines, who scored the threes that hadn’t been achieved in the previous two quarters and equalized that left Pionir cold. As soon as extra time started, Jasikevicius was sent off for two back-to-back tackles and couldn’t see his team prevail in extra time.
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