2018-19Regular SeasonRound 27
FC Barcelona Lassa 93
Herbalife Gran Canaria 64
March 19, 2019 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 PALAU BLAUGRANA

Pangos, Kuric shine as Barcelona cruises

FC Barcelona Lassa took another step towards the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs by downing Herbalife Gran Canaria 93-64 at Palau Blaugrana on Tuesday. Barcelona improved to 16-11 in the standings, remains fifth overall and could mathematically qualify for the playoffs on Wednesday if other results go its way. Gran Canaria dropped to 7-20 and is ranked 14th among 16 teams. Kevin Pangos led the winners with 19 points, Chris Singleton added 16, Kyle Kuric had 14, Pau Ribas 12 and Rolands Smits 10 for Barcelona. D.J. Strawberry paced Gran Canaria with 15 points, Oriol Pauli added 13 and Jacob Wiley had 11 for the visitors. Barcelona led 22-19 after 10 minutes and improved its margin to double digits, 33-23. Strawberry and Marcus Eriksson allowed Gran Canaria not only to rally, but to take a 38-39 edge soon after the break. Barcelona found a scoring reference in Singleton, who joined forces with Ribas and Pangos to break the game open at 63-46 at the end of the third quarter. Nothing changed after that as Barcelona cruised to an important win.

Strawberry and Aleksander Balcerowski got Gran Canaria going with back-to-back triples, but Pangos and Singleton quickly stepped up to put Barcelona ahead, 8-6. Ondrej Balvin hit a baseline jumper and a three-point play by Wiley restored an 8-11 Gran Canaria edge. Pangos and Singleton kept pacing the hosts, hitting a three-pointer apiece for a 16-13 advantage. Xavi Rabaseda hit a step-back jumper and Wiley dunked, but Smits and Thomas Heurtel established a 22-19 Barcelona lead after 10 minutes. Kuric joined the three-point shootout early in the second quarter and a layup-plus-foul by Jaka Blazic boosted the hosts' margin to 28-21. Eriksson took over with a backdoor layup, but Pierre Oriola and Kuric made it a double-digit game, 33-23. A floater by Strawberry ignited a 0-7 run that Rabaseda capped with a triple for a 33-30 Gran Canaria deficit. Ante Tomic dunked and Kuric struck from beyond the arc, but 5 unanswered points by Strawberry kept the visitors within 38-35 at halftime. Pauli took over with a reverse layup soon after the break and a floater by Eriksson gave Gran Canaria a 38-39 edge, after a 0-9 run. Ribas answered from downtown and Barcelona found a new go-to guy in Singleton, who struck twice from beyond the arc and added a fast break dunk for a 49-44 Barcelona lead. Pangos followed a baseline jumper with a triple and Oriola soon restored a double-digit margin, 56-46. Kuric buried another three-pointer and got help from Pangos and Smits to break the game open at 63-46 after 30 minutes. Kuric took over with an acrobatic layup early in the fourth quarter, Smits added a layup and a three-pointer by Pangos capped a mammoth 19-0 run that sealed the outcome, 70-46. Nikola Radicevic scored in penetration, but Ribas did better with consecutive triples. By the time Pangos added another one from beyond the arc, everything was said and done at 79-51 and Gran Canaria never recovered.

Pivotal performer

Kuric had an outstanding shooting performance against his former team, making the difference in this game. Kuric finished the game with 14 points on perfect shooting (1 of 1 two-point shots, 4 of 4 from downtown) in less than 19 minutes off the bench.

Game-changing moment

Barcelona led 51-46 midway through the third quarter and improved its defense after that. Meanwhile, Pangos and Kuric fueled a 19-0 run that boosted the hosts' lead to 65-46 early in the fourth quarter. Gran Canaria kept trying, but Barcelona had plenty of time to celebrate the win.

Stellar stat

Barcelona downed 19 three-point shots to tie its club record in the EuroLeague. Barcelona previously hit 19 three-point shots against Anadolu Efes Istanbul on March 29, 2018. Buducnost VOLI Podgorica holds the all-time record with 21 three-point shots against KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on November 15, 2018. Montepaschi Siena was the only other team to hit 19 three-point shots in a EuroLeague game; it did so against Asseco Prokom Gdynia on November 9, 2012.

Did you notice?

Gran Canaria allowed its opponents to score 58% of its two-point shots entering this game. It managed to limit Barcelona's two-point shooting percentage to 41.4%; the hosts hit 12 of 29 shots inside the arc. Barcelona excelled from beyond the three-point line (19 of 28, 67.9%), so protecting its paint was not enough for the visitors.

Next game

Both teams return to EuroLeague action on Thursday. Barcelona visits FC Bayern Munich and Gran Canaria welcomes Olympiacos Piraeus. It will be the Greek powerhouse's first-ever visit to the Canary Islands.

Kyle Kuric - FC Barcelona Lassa - EB18
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Euroleague.net
Referees: CHRISTODOULOU, CHRISTOS; PASTUSIAK, PIOTR; RADOJKOVIC, JOSIP
Attendance: 5312
By Quarter1234
FC Barcelona Lassa22162530
Herbalife Gran Canaria19161118
End of Quarter1234
FC Barcelona Lassa22386393
Herbalife Gran Canaria19354664
FC Barcelona Lassa
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 SERAPHIN, KEVIN DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 PANGOS, KEVIN 21:26 19 1/2 5/6 2/2   4 4 4   2     2 1 22
5 RIBAS, PAU 21:05 12 0/2 4/5         1 1 2     1 2 10
6 SINGLETON, CHRIS 20:54 16 2/4 4/6         3 1 1     2 5 18
8 HANGA, ADAM DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
9 BLAZIC, JAKA 20:09 6 2/3   2/3 2 3 5 2 1 2     2 2 10
10 SMITS, ROLANDS 19:06 10 1/2 2/3 2/2   5 5 1 2       2 1 15
13 HEURTEL, THOMAS 18:53 6 3/6 0/2     2 2 9 2 3   1   2 12
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 22:50 6 0/2 0/1 6/6   3 3   2 1   1 2 3 7
24 KURIC, KYLE 18:36 14 1/1 4/4             1 1   2 1 13
30 CLAVER, VICTOR 19:51 2 1/2 0/1     5 5     1     1   3
44 TOMIC, ANTE 17:10 2 1/5     3 2 5 2 1 3 1   3 1 2
Team           3 1 4               4
Totals 200:00 93 12/29 19/28 12/13 8 25 33 22 10 16 2 2 17 18 116
        41.4% 67.9% 92.3%
Head coach: PESIC, SVETISLAV
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
Herbalife Gran Canaria
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 WILEY, JACOB 17:25 11 5/7   1/1 1   1   1 2 1   3 3 10
2 BALCEROWSKI, ALEKSANDER 20:43 3 0/1 1/4     1 1 1   1       1 1
5 HANNAH, CLEVIN 20:32   0/1 0/2     2 2 1 2 4   1 1 2 -2
8 ERIKSSON, MARCUS 15:17 7 2/4 1/2   1 1 2   1       1 3 9
9 VENE, SIIM-SANDER 9:13 4 2/2 0/2                   3   -1
12 BALVIN, ONDREJ 22:35 2 1/4     2 8 10 4         3 2 12
21 PAULI, ORIOL 20:59 13 5/5 1/2 0/1 1   1   2 3       2 13
22 RABASEDA, XAVIER 19:01 5 1/1 1/4     3 3     2 1   2   2
24 STRAWBERRY, DJ 24:43 15 3/6 3/6 0/1   2 2 2 2 1     2 3 14
31 RADICEVIC, NIKOLA 19:28 4 2/4 0/2     1 1 2 2 2   1 2 1 1
34 JEFFERSON, CORY 4:39                         1   -1
41 TILLIE, KIM 5:25           1 1               1
Team                     2         -2
Totals 200:00 64 21/35 7/24 1/3 5 19 24 10 10 17 2 2 18 17 57
        60% 29.2% 33.3%
Head coach: MARTINEZ, PEDRO

Head Coaches

PESIC, SVETISLAV
FC Barcelona Lassa
"I think we played a perfect game from the beginning until the end. In the first 20 minutes, we had some problems with turnovers. Even with that, we played very well on defense and offense. In the second half, we improved our concentration. Defense was excellent - against their point guards, against Strawberry, against Eriksson. We played really, really good. As always, if you have confidence on defense, you take decisions like we did. On defense, we won our direct duels against their point guards, against Eriksson, against other players. If you play at that level on defense, you don't have any problems on offense. Okay, it was a special game tonight because we were very good at three-point shots from all positions. We hit 19 three-point shots, which is for sure our best mark in this season. We will try to repeat this one more time, but this is very difficult. We played great defense, with confidence and competitiveness, with the willingness to improve our defense. It is a good message for all my players; we can play on offense without any problems if we play good defense, with concentration and willingness to beat your direct opponent. We played really focused and aggressive from the very beginning."
MARTINEZ, PEDRO
Herbalife Gran Canaria
"It was a long game for us. We played, I think, at a good level for 23-24 minutes, but the physical game that Barcelona forced us to play was too hard for us. We just couldn't play at the same level we showed in the first half. I am happy with our first half, but I think had a lot of problems in the second half. It is very hard for us to play against a very physical team like Barcelona. Its physical level is hard to keep up for a lot of minutes. We lacked concentration and made some mistakes heling too much on defense and Barcelona was sensational in those moments, hitting three-point shots with high percentages, partly because we were not as smart as we could have been on defense, especially in the second half."

Players

SINGLETON, CHRIS
FC Barcelona Lassa
"Any time you can win, especially on a double [week] and going up on the road it is very big, especially for our confidence. Especially after losing two games, I am just happy we got the win. I don't think [three-point shots] was the key going into the game; you never know how good you are going to shoot, but I think we stayed focused and fed off each other's energy. I think we tied our EuroLeague record with 19. Hope it happens again against Bayern."
WILEY, JACOB
Herbalife Gran Canaria
"I thought our team fought very hard against a very talented team in a tough environment. We are continuing to get better each week and the energy and effort of the team is improving. Our focus right now is to improve on the things we are working on each game, especially on defense."