BarcelonaIf every game of the football team is a suffering, every commitment of the basketball team is fun. Barça had no problems getting rid of Panathinaikos (86-60) and added another victory at the Palau Blaugrana. The Catalan team moved away from the rival during a second quarter of great superiority that touched the opponent.
Dante Exum, who acted a few minutes from the base, confirmed his evolution by adding 12 points and 6 rebounds. Nick Calathes, who holds the record for most Euroleague appearances, once again offered a lesson on how to lead the game of a Barça player who has regained his solidity prior to the coronavirus outbreak.
“The players have understood the game and I am satisfied with their evolution, which has been very solid. This victory strengthens our confidence,” said Sarunas Jasikevicius. The Lithuanian coach had the casualties of Cory Higgins, Àlex Abrines and Pierre Oriola, but found a placid match against a rival that justified his penultimate position in the standings. The team coached by Dimitris Priftis, the coach who led Unics Kazan to the Euroleague, did not offer good collective feelings in Barcelona, where the individual actions of Georgios Papagiannis were of little use to him.
Barça’s defense disfigured the game of a Panathinaikos without Nemanja Nedovic. The Greek team lost 13 balls for the first 20 minutes in which they could only score 25 points. After an even first quarter (17-15), the Barça team took advantage of the energy of Dante Exum and the offensive production of Nigel Hayes-Davis to open a gap in the scoreboard. The American winger scored 12 points in a second quarter in which his triples penalized the opponent’s defensive efforts. The partial was 28-10 (45-25). “We made a horrible second quarter and their defensive changes have turned off our game,” Priftis acknowledged.
Barça widened the gap to 27 points at the start of the third period (54-27) and the match was seen for sentencing. The Barça team took advantage of the last minutes to improve the confidence of players such as Sergi Martínez or the young James Nnaji, who signed the smash of the night.
Fifth match at the Palau
Barça will close a three-match week on Sunday with the Río Monbus (12.30pm, Movistar) at the Palau Blaugrana. It will be the fifth consecutive match that the Catalan team will play as a local. The previous four, played against Asvel Villeurbanne, Badalona Youth, Bayern Munich and Panathinaikos ended in victory.
