2020-21Regular SeasonRound 31
March 26, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 PALAU BLAUGRANA

Barca nails down home-court advantage

FC Barcelona clinched the home-court advantage in the upcoming Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs by downing ALBA Berlin 80-67 at Palau Blaugrana on Friday. The only team that punched its playoffs ticket, Barcelona improved to 23-8 to move closer to clinching first place, too. Meanwhile, already-eliminated ALBA dropped to 11-20. Nikola Mirotic led the winners with 26 points. Pierre Oriola added 13, Brandon Davies 12 and Kyle Kuric got 10. Nick Calathes dished 11 assists for Barcelona. Luke Sikma led ALBA with 9 points. Sikma, Simone Fontecchio and Johannes Thiemann pushed ALBA to a 22-23 lead after 10 minutes. Mirotic stepped up for Barcelona, getting help from Kuric and Oriola to put Barcelona in charge, 45-40, at halftime. ALBA managed to stay within 62-58 at the end of the third quarter but Adam Hanga and Mirotic fueled a 9-0 run that sealed the outcome way before the final buzzer.

Oriola got Barcelona going with a tip-in but Sikma hit a couple of jumpers in a 0-6 run and Malte Delow bettered Mirotic's layup with a three-point play for a 4-9 ALBA lead. Mirotic and Hanga hit floaters in a 6-0 run that Oriola capped with a layup for a 10-9 Barcelona lead. Fontecchio took over with a fastbreak slam and Peyton Siva struck from downtown but Mirotic and Davies kept the hosts within 14-16. Sergi Martinez and Rolands Smits downed triples for the hosts, but Niels Giffey and Thiemann kept ALBA ahead, 22-23, after 10 minutes. Kuric followed a four-point play with a bomb from beyond the arc early in the second quarter. Ben Lammers stepped up with 5 quick points but Oriola sank a triple for a 32-28 score. Calathes bettered Siva's jumper with a layup-plus-foul, Mirotic and Sikma traded three-pointers, and Oriola restored a 40-33 Barcelona margin. Christ Koumadje followed a jump hook with an alley-oop slam in a 0-7 ALBA run that Marcus Eriksson closed with a triple for a 40-40 tie. Oriola and Mirotic put Barcelona back ahead, 45-40, at halftime. Mirotic hit a jumper and Oriola added a backdoor layup but Sikma and Jayson Granger kept ALBA within 49-44. Thiemann and an unstoppable Mirotic traded baskets and Giffey struck from downtown to keep ALBA as close as 51-49. Davies followed a three-point play with a jump hook and soon added a couple of layups to give Barcelona a 60-52 edge. Eriksson, Giffey and Granger each downed a jumper to give ALBA hope, 62-58, after 30 minutes. Hanga sank a corner triple early in the fourth quarter and Mirotic scored twice in the paint to give the hosts plenty of fresh air, 69-58. Hanga capped a 9-0 run with a driving layup, as Lammers hit a triple at 71-61. Smits and Fontecchio traded layups and Kuric struck from beyond the arc to seal the outcome, 77-65, with over 2 minutes left.

Pivotal performer

Nikola Mirotic lived up to his role and led Barcelona, especially on offense but also on defense. He finished the game with 26 points by hitting 8 of 10 two-pointers while adding 7 rebounds, an assist, 3 steals, 1 block and 5 fouls drawm for a PIR of 28.

Game-changing moment

Barcelona broke the game open at the start of the fourth quarter as Nick Calathes had 4 assists in 3 minutes. He found Adam Hanga for a corner three-pointer, fed Nikola Mirotic for back-to-back layups, and connected again with Hanga for a driving basket. Barcelona used a 9-0 run to get a 71-58 margin and never looked back.

Stellar stat

Barcelona forced ALBA into 21 turnovers and 13 assists, the visitors’ second-highest and second-lowest such figures, respectively, this season. ALBA dished .62 assists per turnover and Barcelona did much better (1.63, 26 assists and 16 turnovers).

Did you know?

Barcelona remains undefeated at home against ALBA since the turn of the millenium. ALBA's last win at Palau Blaugrana, 66-67, came on February 17, 2000 behind 13 points from Wendell Alexis. Barcelona is also a five-game winning streak against the German powerhouse.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action next Tuesday, March 30, for their first games in a double-round week. ALBA visits Zalgiris Kaunas, featuring its former player, Marius Grigonis, while Barcelona travels to play Maccabi Playtike Tel Aviv, the one-time club of its coach, Sarunas Jasikevicius.

Nikola Mirotic - FC Barcelona - EB20
Friday, March 26, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: LATISEVS, OLEGS; BISSANG, JOSEPH; KARDUM, LUKA
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
FC Barcelona22231718
ALBA Berlin2317189
End of Quarter1234
FC Barcelona22456280
ALBA Berlin23405867
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 14:18 12 5/6   2/2   2 2 2   3 1   3 2 12
2 WESTERMANN, LEO 7:38     0/1         7 1       1 1 7
8 HANGA, ADAM 22:49 7 2/6 1/2     3 3 1 2     2 2 2 6
9 BOLMARO, LEANDRO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
10 SMITS, ROLANDS 13:24 5 1/1 1/2   2 2 4     1     3 2 6
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 17:31 13 5/6 1/1   5 1 6 1   2     2 1 16
21 ABRINES, ALEX 19:58   0/1 0/1     1 1 2 4       2 2 5
23 MARTINEZ, SERGI 15:33 5 0/1 1/2 2/2 2 4 6 1   1     3 1 7
24 KURIC, KYLE 26:11 10 0/1 3/6 1/1   3 3   2 2       1 10
30 CLAVER, VICTOR 6:44     0/2   1 1 2   1       1 1 1
33 MIROTIC, NIKOLA 28:03 26 8/10 2/7 4/6 4 3 7 1 3 4 1 1 1 5 28
99 CALATHES, NICK 27:51 2 1/9 0/4 0/1 2   2 11 2 3   1 2 3 1
Team           3   3               3
Totals 200:00 80 22/41 9/28 9/12 19 20 39 26 15 16 2 4 20 21 102
        53.7% 32.1% 75%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
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
ALBA Berlin
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
3 SIVA, PEYTON 14:17 8 1/5 1/4 3/4 1   1 2   2   1 4 2 -2
5 GIFFEY, NIELS 21:43 7 2/3 1/1   4 1 5 2   1 1     1 14
6 DELOW, MALTE 13:31 3 1/1 0/2 1/1 1 1 2   2       2 2 5
8 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 17:56 8 1/1 2/6     1 1 1   1     1 2 6
9 MATTISSECK, JONAS 8:33     0/1     1 1 1         2   -1
19 OLINDE, LOUIS 13:55           2 2 1   2     3 1 -1
20 FONTECCHIO, SIMONE 18:59 6 3/8 0/1   2 2 4 2 2 3       3 8
21 KOUMADJE, CHRIST 9:40 6 3/3   0/2   2 2     2 1   3 2 4
32 THIEMANN, JOHANNES 11:39 8 3/4 0/1 2/2 1 1 2   1       2 3 10
33 GRANGER, JAYSON 25:43 4 2/2 0/3     1 1 3   5     1 1  
43 SIKMA, LUKE 25:23 9 3/5 1/1   1 5 6 1   4   1 2 1 8
50 LAMMERS, BEN 18:41 8 1/1 1/1 3/3   2 2     1 2   1 2 12
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 67 20/33 6/21 9/12 10 20 30 13 5 21 4 2 21 20 64
        60.6% 28.6% 75%
Head coach: GARCIA RENESES, AITO

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
FC Barcelona
"Congratulations to our players and fans. Over the course of so many games in such a short period of time, obviously it is going to be very difficult to always show a great face. Today, it was not a very good game by us. We were not able to start the game very concentrated. We were not able to make adjustments during the game. At the same time, Aito and ALBA tried to make things difficult for us by playing very fast basketball, like we expected, by having some combination of defenses, and it was not easy but at this point of the season, we most importantly take the wins and, hopefully tomorrow, we will try to explain to the guys how to play and act better in those situations. And hopefully we can do it. I don't think that winning is always the most important thing. The most important thing in these situations is to carry on learning. I believe that it is important to know that today, we prepared for this exact kind of exact and still we were not able to know how to react in some situations. What's most important for the guys is that they have to enjoy this winning streak but know that every game is a new story and that we cannot get tired of winning. This is the most beautiful thing in sports: winning and enjoying it. I wish we are smart enough to know that any team, on any given night in which we are not doing well, can beat us. And it happened many times, also to other teams."
GARCIA RENESES, AITO
ALBA Berlin
"We were there for 40 minutes against a Barcelona team that is playing very well. We probably needed to hit a lot of shots to be able to arrive to that point, but we are using EuroLeague games now to practice things. For instance, Koumadje practiced just two days with us, and to coordinate all these things is difficult, so it is good for us to play a game of this level to practice things. The goal is always to win, but we understand we cannot do it, and at least we use it to improve our team for the remainder of the season. ALBA has been doing a great job for a long time, and that is because is bringing in young players to the first team. Sometimes we play with five Berliners on court; not just German players, but born in Berlin."

Players

MIROTIC, NIKOLA
FC Barcelona
"Once again, it was very important game for us. Obviously, I don't think we played our best game tonight, but a win is a win. We played good offensively. We did a good job offensively, and defensively it was not that good, but little by little, we knew how important it is for us to close this regular season. So I am very, very happy about this win but there are many things to improve. That was one of the biggest keys for us, to have the home-court advantage (in the playoffs). There are three games left in the regular season. Let's try to win all of them, because we want to finish on top and then try to stay healthy and prepare for the next thing."
ORIOLA, PIERRE
FC Barcelona
"I think we suffered a lot during the whole game. We closed the deal in the last 5 minutes with our defense. I think we moved the ball well and closed the game despite suffering a lot during it, against a team that plays really, really good on offense and defense."
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