2020-21Regular SeasonRound 28
FC Barcelona 71
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 57
March 05, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 PALAU BLAUGRANA

Barcelona holds off Baskonia at home

FC Barcelona took another step closer to qualifying for the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Playoffs by downing TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 71-57 at Palau Blaugrana on Friday, which was head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius's 45th birthday. Barcelona improved to 20-8 in the regular season standings to stay in first place, two victories above all other teams. Meanwhile, Baskonia dropped to 14-14 and has three more losses than the eighth ranked team, Zenit St Petersburg (16-11). Nikola Mirotic led the winners with 18 points and Cory Higgins added 13. Baskonia got 12 points from Youssoupha Fall and 11 from Rokas Giedraitis. Barcelona led 25-4 after 10 minutes but Baskonia rallied to tie it at 40-40. A 7-0 run gave Barcelona the lead for good, 47-40, and three-pointers by Adam Hanga, Higgins and Mirotic sealed the outcome in crunch time.

Mirotic's jump hook and Artem Pustovyi's jumper got Barca a 4-0 lead. Giedraitis and Nick Calathes traded floaters and Leo Bolmaro struck from downtown to boost the hosts' margin to 9-2. Higgins took over with an and-on layup and a bomb from downtown that broke the game open, 15-2. Mirotic capped Barca's 18-2 run with a corner triple before Fall scored down low to revive Baskonia. Mirotic scored a put-back, Brandon Davies added a three-point play and Hanga made it a 21-point game, 25-4, after 10 minutes. Fall had a close-in basket and dunk to spark Baskonia's comeback. His floater and another dunk went down before Giedraitis and Achille Polonara each scored inside and Pierria Henry added consecutive driving layups. Tonye Jekiri capped Baskonia's 0-16 run with a tip-in, bringing the visitors within 30-26, although Mirotic would add 3 points to Barcelona tally before halftime. Polonara dunked right after the break. Alex Abrines followed a triple with a jumper, getting help from Higgins to boost Barcelona's lead to 40-31. It didn't last long, as Giedraitis hit a running hook and a three-pointer and Fall scored in the paint for a 0-9 Baskonia run that tied the score at 40-40. Mirotic stepped up with 5 quick points and Davies dunked to make the guests call timeout at 47-40. Jekiri threw one down before Zoran Dragic and Calathes traded triples to fix the score at 50-45 after 30 minutes. Davies scored in the paint and Hanga stopped the show with a huge one-handed put-back slam but Jekiri and Giedraitis kept Baskonia within 54-49 in the fourth quarter. Alec Peters scored 5 quick points but Kuric downed a jumper and Hanga, Higgins and Mirotic each struck from beyond the arc to restore a double-digit Barcelona lead, 65-54, with over 3 minutes left. Baskonia kept trying but the hosts cruised to a well-deserved win, handing Coach Jasikevicius the perfect birthday present.

Pivotal performer

Nikola Mirotic was once again Barcelona's main pillar at both ends of the floor. He finished the game with 18 points on solid shooting percentages (57.1% 2FG, 66.7% 3FG, 100% FT), adding 10 rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block for a PIR of 26.

Game-changing moment

Barcelona led 52-47 and found an unexpected go-to guy in Adam Hanga, who followed an outstanding put-back slam with a three-pointer. Kyle Kuric hit a jumper, then Cory Higgins and Nikola Mirotic each buried one apiece from downtown to seal the outcome, 65-54, with 3 minutes left.

Stellar stat

Three-point shots made the difference in the entire game, not just in crunch time. Barcelona hit 9 of 21 three-pointers (42.9%) while Baskonia could hit just 4 in 15 attempts (26.7%). Barcelona was perfect from the free throw line (8-of-8) for the first time since December 2019.

Did you know?

Baskonia's 4 first-quarter points were an all-time low in its 513-game EuroLeague run. It previously scored 6 first-quarter points three times. Its 21-point deficit at quarter's end was also the highest in its EuroLeague run.

Next games

Both teams return to action next week as Barcelona visits Real Madrid in another EuroLeague edition of El Clásico on Thursday, March 11. Baskonia hosts FC Bayern Munich on Friday, March 12.

Nikola Mirotic - FC Barcelona - EB20
Friday, March 5, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: LAMONICA, LUIGI; RADOVIC, SRETEN; MAJKIC, MARIO
Attendance: 0
By Quarter1234
FC Barcelona2581721
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz4221912
End of Quarter1234
FC Barcelona25335071
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz4264557
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 25:44 9 4/5   1/1 1 4 5 1   2 1   3 2 12
2 WESTERMANN, LEO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 HANGA, ADAM 19:46 9 3/6 1/3   3   3 2 1 1     1   8
9 BOLMARO, LEANDRO 7:58 3   1/1     1 1 1   1     1   3
10 SMITS, ROLANDS 15:23   0/2 0/1   1 1 2     1     1 1 -2
14 PUSTOVYI, ARTEM 7:43 2 1/1       3 3   2 1 1   3 1 5
21 ABRINES, ALEX 17:20 5 1/1 1/2     1 1 1 1       2   5
22 HIGGINS, CORY 25:58 13 2/6 2/6 3/3 1 1 2 4 1 4   3   5 10
24 KURIC, KYLE 18:30 5 1/1 1/1   1   1     1     1 2 6
30 CLAVER, VICTOR 2:49         1 1 2               2
33 MIROTIC, NIKOLA 31:10 18 4/7 2/3 4/4 3 7 10 1 1 3 1   2 4 26
99 CALATHES, NICK 27:39 7 2/7 1/4     2 2 4   4 1   3   -1
Team             1 1               1
Totals 200:00 71 18/36 9/21 8/8 11 22 33 14 6 18 4 3 17 15 75
        50% 42.9% 100%
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
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
2 RAIESTE, SANDER DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3 VILDOZA, LUCA 12:47   0/1 0/3   1   1   1 1     1   -4
5 JEKIRI, TONYE 19:56 6 3/6     4 2 6     1     1 1 8
7 HENRY, PIERRIA 32:30 9 2/7 1/2 2/4   4 4 8 1 6 1 2 1 4 10
8 SEDEKERSKIS, TADAS 8:59   0/2     1   1 1         1   -1
12 DIOP, ILIMANE DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 20:04 12 6/7     1 2 3     4 1 1 4 4 10
25 PETERS, ALEC 16:40 8 2/7 1/1 1/1 2 1 3 1 2 1   1 4 2 5
30 DRAGIC, ZORAN 23:20 5 0/2 1/2 2/2   1 1 1 2       1 4 9
31 GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS 34:43 11 4/6 1/5   1   1   2 3       1 6
33 POLONARA, ACHILLE 31:01 6 2/3 0/2 2/2   6 6 3 2   1   2 1 14
47 KURUCS, ARTURS DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Team           1 3 4     1         3
Totals 200:00 57 19/41 4/15 7/9 11 19 30 14 10 17 3 4 15 17 60
        46.3% 26.7% 77.8%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
FC Barcelona
"Congratulations to our fans, congratulations to our players. We knew coming in that Baskonia is playing excellent basketball. They won nine of their last 10 games and are fighting for their lives in the EuroLeague. This is exactly what we were afraid of, that they had better motivation. Fortunately for us, they didn't punish our mistakes in the first quarter and then we had to start the game from zero, of course. I thought that our last quarter was excellent, our defensive spirit, our help to one another, our details, and we are happy that we got to hit some shots. Until now, we have played four games in a very short period of time. We lacked freshness and so did Baskonia. We are in the same position, and Baskonia played a day after we did. It is important to close the week well but we have to rest a little bit. We have to start to think of how we can lower the number of turnovers we are having. I think that a team with our talent cannot pick up more than 15 turnovers per game. These days, we had 19 and 18. That's 19 and 18 times that we didn't shoot the ball. We have important offensive talent, but if we don't shoot the ball at the basket, we will never score. It is important to rest a bit and the guys come back with a fresher mind."
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
TD Systems Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"I think that the first 10 minutes were very important. We started very bad. We didn't play good and didn't have options on offense, and also on defense, but I think in the last 30 minutes, we very very good on defense. In the important moments in the third and fourth quarter, we didn't have lucidity and patience to win the game. I hope that we play against this team for something important this season, and I am convinced that we can beat them. This is the most important thing for me tonight. I have a lot of confidence in my players and the way we played in the last 30 minutes is the way we have to play. I am sure some of the players can and will play better on offense. Our defense was very good tonight. The problem was our offense, we didn't have this freshness, this quickess to find clear situations, especially in the moments in which the game was decided. But we will improve that in the next game, I am sure."

Players

MIROTIC, NIKOLA
FC Barcelona
"We wanted to play the same as in the beginning of the game, because we had a great start and I think we kind of found ourselved, especially on defense. We boxed out, and offensively we shared the ball in the end, so it was a really important win for us. Every win is very important and, obviously, being my 100th game with Barcelona, is amazing. I am very thankful and blessed to be here and to be honest, I am really enjoying every game. It has been a great moment for me and also for my family here in Barcelona."
HANGA, ADAM
FC Barcelona
"I think that mostly they didn't have that many transition points (in the second half) as they had in the first half. I think it was a tough game, as you can see the score, 71-57, so it was a low-scoring game. It has been a while that we had a game like this but we are happy for the win. It is one more and obviously, getting to the end of the season, it is really important to get to the playoffs in as best shape as possible. So every win counts and we are really happy for this win. It has been a while since I had a dunk! I am always just happy about the win. Obviously, I am also happy that I could help my team, but I also made a lot of mistakes. Anyway, the most important thing is the win and we just have to keep pushing that way."