2019-20Regular SeasonRound 17
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 76
FC Barcelona 74
January 02, 2020 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 BUESA ARENA

Shengelia's dunk lifts Baskonia past Barcelona

In an intense and physical showdown that went down to the final shot, KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz snapped its three-game losing streak by downing FC Barcelona 76-74 at home on Thursday. Baskonia improved to 7-10 in the standings and dropped Barcelona to 13-4 after going undefeated in five games in December. Pierria Henry led the winners with 20 points, Shavon Shields added 14 while Toko Shengelia had 13 for Baskonia. Nikola Mirotic paced Barcelona with 17 points, Kyle Kuric and Malcolm Delaney each added 13 while Brandon Davies had 12 for the visitors. Baskonia made 14 of its first 20 shots - including 8 from downtown - in boosting its margin to 47-31 at halftime. A three-pointer by Henry gave Baskonia a 52-31 lead soon after the break. Mirotic and Davies led the visitors' comeback and free throws by Pierre Oriola tied the lead, 74-74, already in the final minute. Shengelia took over with a go-ahead dunk in traffic and Oriola missed from downtown at the buzzer.

Shields got Baskonia going with a three-pointer and Shengelia added a jumper for a 5-2 lead. Mirotic stepped up with back-to-back layups, but didn't find much help . Matt Janning struck from downtown, Shengelia dunked in traffic and Shields added a layup to boost Baskonia's lead to 12-6. Adam Hanga rescued the visitors with a layup, but Sergi Garcia and Stauskas each buried one from beyond the arc before Barcelona stopped the game at 18-9. Delaney, Stauskas and Kuric each hit a triple to fix the score at 21-15 after 10 minutes. Janning insisted from downtown early in the second quarter and Shengelia dunked again, igniting a 9-0 run which Ilimane Diop capped with a jumper that made it a 15-point game. Davies buried a couple of jumpers and Delaney erased Henry's triple with his own shot from beyond the arc. Shields joined the three-point shootout, but Mirotic and Alex Abrines brought the visitors a bit closer, 37-26. Henry sank a turnaround jumper and added a step-back triple to break the game open. Ante Tomic scored down low and Delaney added another three-pointer to make it 47-31 at halftime.

Shengelia scored around the basket and Henry added a corner triple that ignited the crowd at 52-31. Mirotic tried to change things with a layup and Delaney added a four-point play that brought the visitors within 54-37. Mirotic found Davies for an easy layup and nailed a deep three-pointer. Diop stepped up with a layup and a bomb from downtown to set a 59-42 Baskonia lead. Kuric, Shields, Mirotic and Henry traded triples, but Barcelona found Davies for extra points in the paint that made it 65-54 after 30 minutes. Henry nailed his fifth three-pointer early in the fourth quarter. Kuric banked in a running shot and Abrines added a fastbreak layup that gave Barcelona hope at 68-58. The visitors found new go-to guys as Victor Claver sank a floater and Oriola added a three-pointer for a 68-63 score. Mirotic soon made it a 3-point game. Shengelia buried one from downtown to give Baskonia fresh air, but Kuric and Oriola brought the visitors even closer, 71-69. Shields downed his fourth three-pointer in the next-to-last minute only for Kuric to quickly answer from beyond the arc. Oriola hit free throws for a 74-74 tie with 56.5 seconds to go. Shengelia rescued Baskonia with a huge dunk, Mirotic missed a jumper and Barcelona got the ball back with 11 seconds left and a chance to win the game, but Oriola missed from downtown at the buzzer.

Pivotal performer

Pierria Henry played perhaps his best game this season. He had totaled 21 points in his team's last five EuroLeague games. In this game, he finished with 20 points on 5-of-8 three-point shooting. Henry had made only 8 of 31 shots from downtown (25.8%) before this game. He added 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 5 fouls drawn for a game-high PIR of 22.

Game-changing moment

A wild fourth-quarter rally led by Kyle Kuric and Pierre Oriola, allowed Barcelona to tie the game at 74-74 with 56.5 seconds left. Shengelia stepped up with a monster dunk that gave Baskonia the lead for good. Mirotic missed a jumper and even though Barcelona got the ball back, Oriola missed a contested shot from the top of the key at the buzzer. Shengelia provided one of the plays of the season, but those two defensive stops in crunch time made the difference.

Stellar stat

Baskonia hit 16 of 33 three-point shots (48.5%), which much better than its percentage before this game (31.7%). Baskonia's 16 three-point shots made tied for the second-biggest total in club history. Baskonia previously hit 17 three-point shots against Unicaja Malaga on January 25, 2016, and against Zalgiris Kaunas on November 16, 2017.

Did you notice?

Barcelona ended up having a much higher PIR (88) than Baskonia (77), which is very unusual for a losing team. In fact, it is the first time that Baskonia won a game with a lower PIR than its opponent this season.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action next week. Baskonia hosts Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul on Thursday, January 9. It is a rematch of their 2016 EuroLeague semifinals in Berlin, Germany. Barcelona hosts Anadolu Efes Istanbul on Friday.

Tornike Shengelia - KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz - EB19
Thursday, January 2, 2020
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; DIFALLAH, MEHDI; SILVA, SERGIO
Attendance: 13628
By Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz21261811
FC Barcelona15162320
End of Quarter1234
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz21476576
FC Barcelona15315474
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
5 GONZALEZ, MIGUEL DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7 HENRY, PIERRIA 32:21 20 2/6 5/8 1/2 2 1 3 3 3 2     2 5 22
10 LOPEZ, LAUTARO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
11 JANNING, MATT 29:16 8 0/1 2/5 2/2   2 2 2   1   1 1 3 8
12 DIOP, ILIMANE 18:35 7 2/2 1/3   1 1 2 1 2 1     5 2 6
17 GARCIA, SERGI 7:43 3   1/2         1             3
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 2:28           1 1           2   -1
22 STAUSKAS, NIK 20:03 6 0/3 2/5     2 2 2         1   3
23 SHENGELIA, TORNIKE 31:09 13 5/7 1/3   1 4 5 3 1 3 1   2 4 18
31 SHIELDS, SHAVON 31:15 14 1/3 4/5     4 4 2 2 2     2 2 17
33 POLONARA, ACHILLE 9:54 3 1/1 0/2 1/2 1 1 2           2 2 2
50 ERIC, MICHAEL 17:16 2 1/5     1 3 4 1 3 3 1 1 4   -1
Team             1 1     1          
Totals 200:00 76 12/28 16/33 4/6 6 20 26 15 11 13 2 2 21 18 77
        42.9% 48.5% 66.7%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO
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 22:56 12 5/7 0/1 2/4 2 4 6     3 1   2 3 12
5 RIBAS, PAU 6:39                   1       3 2
8 HANGA, ADAM 20:17 4 2/4 0/2   1 3 4 3 1 3   1 3   1
10 SMITS, ROLANDS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 18:43 7 1/1 1/2 2/2       1   1     3 1 4
21 ABRINES, ALEX 15:14 4 2/2 0/1     4 4 1 1 2     2 1 6
23 DELANEY, MALCOLM 29:55 13 0/2 4/6 1/1   2 2 6   1     3 2 15
24 KURIC, KYLE 23:09 13 1/3 3/3 2/2   2 2     1     1 2 13
30 CLAVER, VICTOR 24:46 2 1/1     1 4 5 3 2       2 2 12
31 BOLMARO, LEANDRO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
33 MIROTIC, NIKOLA 27:35 17 4/7 2/8 3/4 2 3 5 4 2 3     2 6 19
44 TOMIC, ANTE 10:46 2 1/3     1 1 2     1 1 1   1 2
Team             2 2               2
Totals 200:00 74 17/30 10/23 10/13 7 25 32 18 6 16 2 2 18 21 88
        56.7% 43.5% 76.9%
Head coach: PESIC, SVETISLAV

Head Coaches

IVANOVIC, DUSKO
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I believe that tonight, we brought back our players' confidence; we didn't actually do it, they did it. We recovered the character that this club always had. I told the players that now comes the hardest part. We showed that we can do it and this team has to play much better. We won and fought hard, but nothing special. This club has higher goals and we have to play better. I think that the key to this game was our defense. In some moments, we played very good defense, very aggressive, stopping Barcelona's strengths and this gave us the confidence to shoot the ball, it was much easier. You have to give credit to the players. I have been here for three days and no-one can do miracles in that time. I just made some adjustments on defense and offense and gave them the confidence to play. In two weeks, you will be able to see my work, but the players won this game. It was very special to come back [to Buesa Arena]. Before I got in, I was... I am a bit cold, but I was a bit emotional. Thanks to our fans, who have always been supporting this team. I felt comfortable. The whole team was much better tonight, not just Henry. He came out focused and willing to play good defense and once he did that, he played well on offense."
PESIC, SVETISLAV
FC Barcelona
"First, congratulations to Dusko [Ivanovic] and his team. We had our chance in the last possession but in the end, I believe that Baskonia deserved this win because they played better than us. If you want to beat a team like Baskonia here, with this atmosphere, you need to play more good minutes at a high level than we did. We played better in the second half, just 20 minutes, and that is not enough in the EuroLeague against a team with a new coach and a lot of excitement and aggressiveness, which is something we expected. We need more tension and aggressiveness, especially on defense, and we didn't have that. They played excellent basketball, especially in the first 20 minutes. We had 16 turnovers and Baskonia made 16 three-point shots and it is very difficult to win the game, even when as you saw, we had the final 11 seconds until the end. If we won, you don't ask yourself if you deserved it or not, but in the end, we have to congratulate Baskonia for the win. We have to analyze the whole game, always. If you win or lose, you analyze the team and each detail, which are very important in basketball. We have to analyze how we started and how we finished the game. There are a lot of things to see - it is the first week of January, a new year, and there are a lot of games this month. If it was the last game of the season, you just want to win whether you play well or not, that is the main goal, but if you still have to play for five more months, we have to analyze this game and find the problems that we had. Not everything was wrong, there are moments in which we played well on offense and defense and I am sure there are positive things, but we also have to talk about negative things."

Players

SHENGELIA, TORNIKE
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"It is a very important win. We needed it like water. I am proud of my teammates. We came up strong and tried to maintain the consistency in the second half because we knew they were going to come back, they are Barcelona, one of the best teams right now in the EuroLeague. Thanks to our crowd, they were amazing today. They were exceptional today and thank God, we got this win done. I tried to make a play and thankfully, I made that dunk, but the game was not over there. I made a turnover and almost had a heart attack but thank God, we won this game."
HENRY, PIERRIA
KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I just have to salute my teammates for never giving up. It says a lot about our team and how strong our locker room is when we stick together. When we have fan support and a crowd like that, bringing a lot of energy, an electrifying atmosphere, all you can do is leave it all out there and do your best. I cannot say enough. I am extremely excited and happy to be a part of this team and how my teammates fought. At the end of the day, we have a lot to learn, but we can learn from this game and move on to the next day. We cannot be satisfied with this one game. We just want to keep improving and I think Coach has done a great job keeping our heads focused, keeping us locked in and paying attention to the bigger picture. We are ready!"