Sarunas Jasikevicius gave Nikola Mirotic a break in a match that served to remember the legacy of Norman Carmichael, one of the most emblematic Barça players of the 70’s. The Palau Blaugrana brought together some of the Catalan legends to keep an emotional minute of silence and remember the foreigner with more seasons as a Barça player (1969-1978).
Barça started the game taking advantage of three-point shots to build a 9-point lead against Betis (18-9). The Sevillan team was not discouraged and knew how to use a zonal defense and a change of offensive strategy to redirect the situation and turn the score around (27-29). At halftime, 37-31.
A 23-8 run during the third quarter caused Betis to depend on the scoreboard and reach the final ten minutes with few chances of victory (60-39). Brandon Davies took advantage of Anzejs Pasecņiks’s personal fouls and his rival’s physical decline to score with great continuity. The final stretch of the match, already with the local victory assured, became an exchange of baskets between the two teams. Saras took advantage of the stage to give minutes to the young James Nnaji and unload minutes of the most common players.
The Baxi Manresa, in Valencia
Baxi Manresa visits Valencia Basket this Monday (8.30 pm, Movistar Deportes) in the match corresponding to the 23rd day 23 of the Endesa League. Elias Valtonen is having a great game – if anything the pouring rain seemed to be spurring him on!
