BadalonaWith the first position of the regular season assured, Barça lost on the court of Olympiacos (73-66), a rival that took advantage of the defeats of Real Madrid and Olimpia of Milan to reach the second position. The Barça team could not keep a nine-point difference against a Greek team that won thanks to a partial 11-4 final.
Sarunas Jasikevicius recovered Sertac Sanli, but is still without Rokas Jokubaitis, Cory Higgins, Brandon Davies or Pierre Oriola. In addition, the coach rested Nico Laprovittola during the first half in the fifth consecutive week with three games. The match served to give minutes to youngsters like Michael Caicedo and James Nnaji and to try some new situations, such as placing Dante Exum as a base.
Barça made a great first half in Piraeus, where they took advantage of their superiority in the rebound to put a rival against the ropes who ended up losing by eight points. Without continuity in defense, the Greek team could not impose its pace during the first two quarters of Catalan dominance. Despite not scoring many triples, Barça managed to find good shooting positions to reach the break with a seven-point lead (33-40).
The maximum visiting difference was nine points (38-47), but it was then that Olympiacos woke up and scored a 13-1 run that turned the score around in the final stretch of the third quarter (51- 48). The local defense put the batteries, but Barça did not lower their arms and continued to compete. The match ended in a draw in the last three minutes (62-62), when the Greek team was more successful in the face of the basket. The 19 lost balls of the visitors were too big a slab to get the victory in Piraeus. “We made a very good defense, especially in the second half. In addition, we showed character to end our regular season with a victory at home,” said Georgios Bartzokas. Shaq McKissic and Sasha Vezenkov were the most popular local players.
Manresa and La Penya, this Saturday
Baxi Manresa and Joventut de Badalona, two teams that share the third position in the Endesa League, play this Saturday. The Bages team visits the Monbus Obradoiro (6pm, Movistar Deportes 1), while the Badalona team plays at the Casademont Zaragoza track (8.45pm, Movistar Deportes 1).
