2019-20Regular SeasonRound 27
March 04, 2020 CET: 20:00
Local time: 20:00 MERCEDES-BENZ ARENA

Barcelona holds firm to overcome spirited ALBA

FC Barcelona took another step towards securing homecourt advantage in the playoffs by gaining a hard-fought 80-84 victory over ALBA Berlin in the German capital. Barcelona moved into a first-quarter lead, but ALBA bounced back to dominate the second quarter and led 46-38 at halftime. The visitors responded with a 2-16 charge in the third and the fourth quarter saw several ties and lead changes before Barca enjoyed the better of the closing stages. Alex Abrines led Barcelona’s scoring with 17 points, making 6 of his 7 field goal attempts. Malcolm Delaney scored 16 points, Nikola Mirotic scored 14 and Cory Higgins paired 13 points with 7 assists. Luke Sikma paced ALBA with a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds, while Martin Hermannsson top-scored for the hosts with 17 points. Landry Nnoko added 12 points and Marcus Eriksson scored 11 against his former club. Barcelona improved to 21-7 on the back of an eight-game winning run, while ALBA dropped to 9-18.


Hermannsson scored twice in the early stages, and a slick layup from Sikma kept ALBA moving until Adam Hanga’s three-pointer and Higgins's fadeaway jumper made it 6-10. Johannes Thiemann stroked the home team’s first triple, but free throws stretched the visitor’s lead. Nnoko scored twice from close-range before Delaney and Jonas Mattisseck exchanged deep strikes. Brandon Davies dunked and Delaney made a layup to make it 18-27 after 10 minutes. Mattisseck’s corner three and Nnoko’s jump hook and transition layup saw ALBA start the second quarter fast before Delaney’s three got Barca moving again. Kenneth Ogbe’s deep strike tied the game at 30-30. Kyle Kuric responded from beyond the arc and after a slow period of scoring, Eriksson gave ALBA the lead, 34-33. Kuric’s dunk was bettered by Sikma’s three-pointer. A pair of Hermannsson’s driving scores maintained the lead before Tyler Cavanaugh’s triple stretched the advantage to 46-38 at the break.

Ante Tomic and Nnoko were on target early in the third before Eriksson’s deep strike and long jumper sent ALBA to a double-digit lead, 53-42. Abrines scored from deep, Mirotic made a mid-range strike and Higgins dunked as Barca bounced back before Abrines added a putback and Higgins followed a jumper with a layup-plus-one to secure a 55-56 lead. Mirotic capped the 2-16 run from the foul line before Thiemann got ALBA moving again. Eriksson made his third triple to make the lead change hands, but Barcelona grabbed it back again and Delaney beat the third-quarter buzzer for a 62-66 lead. Sikma’s three-point play opened the final stanza and he then split free throws for a 66-66 tie. Free throws sent ALBA ahead again, but Abrines scored more triples for a 73-74 lead. Niels Giffey’s putback sent the hosts back in front before Higgins and Nnoko traded close-range scores. Abrines scored again for a 77-78 lead with 2 minutes left and Delaney gave Barcelona breathing room from deep. Hermannsson gave ALBA hope, but Nnoko missed a chance to tie the game and Tomic split free throws, making it 79-82 with 20 seconds left. Sikma split his free throws and Kuric added a layup to secure a hard-fought win.

Second-quarter woes for Barcelona

After blasting 27 points in the first quarter, Barcelona could only net 9 in the second quarter. The visiting team made just 3 of its 14 field goal attempts during that period, committing 7 turnovers in the process.

ALBA struggles after the break

ALBA had a similarly tough time in the third quarter, only scoring 9 points in the first 8 minutes as Barcelona produced a strong revival. After moving ahead by double digits, 53-42, the home team only scored one basket in more than 5 minutes as Barca made a 2-16 spurt to take control.

Fluctuating fortunes in the fourth

It was anyone’s game in the fourth quarter, which saw 9 lead changes and 3 ties before Barcelona moved ahead for good with a big dunk from Alex Abrines with 2:15 remaining. ALBA was ahead for 3:18 of the last 10 minutes, but couldn’t quite get the job done.

Bench boosts Barca

Barcelona was boosted by its bench, which outscored the starting five 45-37. Alex Abrines (17 points) and Malcolm Delaney (16) were the main contributors, with Kyle Kuric (9) also playing a big part.

Next round

Barcelona has another German test on Friday night with a visit from FC Bayern Munich, while ALBA faces another Spanish opponent with a journey to take on KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz.

Malcolm Delaney - FC Barcelona - EB19
Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: PATERNICO, CARMELO; TRAWICKI, TOMASZ; PEERANDI, RAIN
Attendance: 8797 (Tentative)
By Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin18281618
FC Barcelona27112818
End of Quarter1234
ALBA Berlin18466280
FC Barcelona27386684
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 30:16 8 3/8 0/3 2/2 3 2 5 2       1 3 2 5
6 DELOW, MALTE 2:30                              
8 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 29:13 11 1/2 3/7   1 1 2 1   3 1   4 1 4
9 MATTISSECK, JONAS 16:06 6   2/4   1 2 3 2   1     1 2 9
15 HERMANNSSON, MARTIN 29:35 17 7/12 0/3 3/4 1 1 2 3   5   1   3 10
16 NIKIC, KRESIMIR DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
25 OGBE, KENNETH 12:29 4 0/1 1/1 1/2   1 1     2     2 1  
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 12:31 5 1/1 1/2   1 1 2 1         3   4
34 CAVANAUGH, TYLER 12:50 7 0/1 1/2 4/4       2         4 2 5
35 NNOKO, LANDRY 26:36 12 6/13     3 6 9     2     4 2 10
43 SIKMA, LUKE 27:54 10 2/4 1/4 3/5 4 7 11 4 1 1 1   2 6 23
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 80 20/42 9/26 13/17 15 23 38 15 1 14 2 2 23 19 73
        47.6% 34.6% 76.5%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO
Min: Minutes played; Pts: Points; 2FG M-A: 2-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); 3FG M-A: 3-point Field Goals (Made-Attempted); FT M-A: Free Throws (Made-Attempted); Rebounds: O (Offensive), D (Defensive), T (Total); As: Assists; St: Steals; To: Turnovers; Bl: Blocks (Fv: In Favor / Ag: Against); Fouls: Cm (Commited), Rv (Received); PIR: Performance Index Rating
FC Barcelona
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 DAVIES, BRANDON 19:07 4 2/6 0/1   3 2 5 5   1 1   1   8
5 RIBAS, PAU 2:32                   1         -1
8 HANGA, ADAM 20:41 5 1/3 1/3   3 2 5 1   1 1   1 1 7
10 SMITS, ROLANDS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 11:06 1     1/2   2 2     1     3 1 -1
21 ABRINES, ALEX 20:39 17 3/3 3/4 2/2 1 3 4   1       2 2 21
22 HIGGINS, CORY 29:43 13 5/8 0/2 3/3 1 2 3 7 2 6   1 2 3 14
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 23:36 16 1/1 4/6 2/4   2 2 2 1 2     2 3 16
24 KURIC, KYLE 17:43 9 3/4 1/2     1 1 1 3       2 3 13
30 CLAVER, VICTOR 5:22     0/2         1         2   -3
33 MIROTIC, NIKOLA 28:54 14 2/4 0/6 10/11   5 5 3 1 1   1 3 7 16
44 TOMIC, ANTE 20:37 5 2/5   1/2 1 4 5 2   1     1 3 9
Team           1 2 3               3
Totals 200:00 84 19/34 9/26 19/24 10 25 35 22 8 14 2 2 19 23 102
        55.9% 34.6% 79.2%
Head coach: PESIC, SVETISLAV

Head Coaches

GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"I am proud of my players. They played with very good intensity. Despite that we are not winning that many games in EuroLeague, we are winning respect, because we are competing every time. This is very good for us with all the injuries and the schedule we have. This is very difficult for us, because we don’t have as many professional players as other teams. It’s very good that we compete and learn to get better in the games always with good focus and intensity."
PESIC, SVETISLAV
FC Barcelona

"I'm always happy if we win! Especially an away game. We played against an excellent team that plays team basketball. We didn’t believe they would play with this energy and enthusiasm and we needed 20 minutes to understand where we are. In the third quarter, we started to play basketball without turnovers. That improved our confidence for everything else."

"We started very well and had respect for our game. When you have respect for your own game, you automatically respect your opponent also. Everything seemed to go as planned, but we knew that ALBA always keeps fighting. I told my team that we should never commit 2 turnovers in a row because that brings ALBA back into the game immediately. But it happened and ALBA picked up its rhythm. At halftime, we had time to talk about it again and my team found more energy in the second half and managed to win the game in the end.”

Players

SIKMA, LUKE
ALBA Berlin
"Disappointing. We can’t make the plays at the end. It feels like it’s happened a lot this year against some really good teams. We’ve got to take the positives from it and the good thing is we’ve got a quick turnaround and have to play again on Friday."
DELANEY, MALCOLM
FC Barcelona
"It’s very important for us, we’re trying to get homecourt advantage [in the playoffs] so every game is important, especially coming on the road to a team like ALBA, who no matter if they’re winning or losing always play the same way. They’re a very dangerous team. Whatever the team needs to win, I try to do it. I’m comfortable with my shot so whenever I get the opportunity, I try to take it."
ABRINES, ALEX
FC Barcelona
"Playing hard on defense was the key, especially the second half. We know they have a lot of talent, great shooting, and I think we took care of that in the second half which is why we won the game. They shoot a lot of threes and run fastbreaks, so they can go on runs. We just had to stick to our game plan, play aggressive and not forget that we can do the same to them. I got a big hit and felt a bit dizzy, but fortunately, I was able to come back and help the team win the game."
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