2021-22Regular SeasonRound 11
November 19, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 ASTROBALLE

Laprovittola leads Barcelona past ASVEL

FC Barcelona used a pair of big runs and a career-best scoring performance from Nicolas Laprovittola to beat LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne 60-80 on Friday night at Astoballe. Barcelona improved to a joint league-best 9-2 record, while ASVEL dropped to 6-5. Barcelona took the lead for good with a first-quarter ending 0-12 run, then pulled away by scoring 31 points in the third quarter. Laprovittola shined with 25 points, tying a club record with 7 three-pointers made, and he also grabbed 7 rebounds and had 2 assists. Nikola Mirotic was the only other Barcelona player in double figures with 15 points. Elie Okobo was the only ASVEL player in double-digits, scoring 17 points.

Baskets were few and far between in the early going, with James Gist and Okobo scoring tough baskets for ASVEL. Mirotic scored inside and from the outside, but Chris Jones had a jumper and Gist fought for a put-back and a 9-7 score. However, Kyle Kuric knocked down a triple, and sparked a run of 12 straight points for the visitors. Brandon Davies scored inside, Sertac Sanli had a dunk and Rokas Jokubaitis made a last-second floater to make it 9-19 after 10 minutes. Barcelona continued its run in the opening minute of the second with a driving layup from Jokubaitis and a triple from Sergi Martinez to open a 9-24 margin. A basket from Jones snapped a 0-17 run, while sparking a 10-0 run for the hosts fueled by Jones and Kostas Antetokounmpo. Laprovittola's triple ended Barcelona's scoring drought that lasted for nearly 4 minutes, but a dunk from Gist, a floater from William Howard and an alley-oop dunk by Antetokounmpo got the hosts within 28-29, before a last-second layup from Jokubaitis made it 28-31 at halftime.

Mirotic scored Barcelona's first 8 points in the third quarter, including back-to-back threes to open a 30-39 lead. Laprovittola and Okobo traded threes, before Laprovittola's second made it 33-45. ASVEL was not going away just yet, with Jones and Okobo scoring in the crowd, before a corner triple from Charles Kahudi cut it to 41-47. A three-point play and a three-pointer from Okobo got ASVEL within 47-51, but Davies fought for a basket inside before Laprovittola finished the quarter with back-to-back second-chance triples to cap a 0-11 run and make it 47-62. Laprovittola remained hot in the fourth, scoring a floater and back-to-back triples, then dished it for Sertac Sanli's dunk to open a 49-72 lead. The hosts cut the deficit to 16 points thanks to Howard, Antetokounmpo and Matthew Strazel, but Barcelona cruised to victory.

Barcelona's great start

On a short rest at a tough away court, there is hardly a better way to start the game than what Barcelona did at the Astroballe. Offensively, Coach Sarunas Jasikevicius’s team committed no turnovers in the first 10 minutes, while defensively Barcelona held ASVEL to 4-for-14 field goal shooting, including 0-for-2 from long range, and not allowing a single assist. Along with 7 different scorers who combined for 19 points, it all led to Barcelona finishing the quarter with a 0-12 run, to grab a 10-point lead and assume full control of the game. A driving layup from Rokas Jokubaitis and a corner triple from Sergi Martinez in the opening minute of the second quarter turned it into a 0-17 run, and a 15-point lead.

Niko and Nico re-ignite visitors

After Barcelona all but squandered its 15-point second-quarter lead, Nikola Mirotic and Nicolas Laprovittola re-started Barcelona's offensive engines in the third quarter. Mirotic opened the third quarter with 8 consecutive points, including back-to-back triples, followed by back-to-back threes from Laprovittola to open a 33-45 lead. The duo was far from done, especially Laprovittola, who nailed a pair of second-chance three-pointers in the final 90 seconds of the third quarter. After Nikola and Nicolas combined for 22 points in the third quarter, Laprovittola scored the first 8 points of the fourth. The Barcelona playmaker – who started in the absence of injured Nick Calathes - finished the game with career-high 25 points on 7-for-12 three-point shooting, tying a club single-game record for three-pointers made.

Key stats

Barcelona did not allow a three-pointer in the first half, and held ASVEL to just 3 triples made until the midway point of the fourth quarter. ASVEL finished with just 6-for-15 three-point shooting, but those 40% were still better than 39.5% on two-pointers. The hosts also had just 7 assists for the night. Meanwhile, Barcelona hit 12 of its first 27 three-point attempts, before missing the last four shots when it already had a 23-point lead. The visitors also made 50% of their two-pointers, while dishing 18 assists. Barcelona also won the rebounding battle 45-32, pulling down 16 offensive boards against ASVEL's 9.

Nicolas Laprovittola - FC Barcelona - EB21
Friday, November 19, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: RYZHYK, BORYS; JOVCIC, MILIVOJE; KOLJENSIC, MILOS
Attendance: 5461
By Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne9191913
FC Barcelona19123118
End of Quarter1234
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne9284760
FC Barcelona19316280
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
0 OKOBO, ELIE 23:05 17 4/12 2/2 3/3   1 1     2   1 3 4 8
3 JONES, CHRIS 26:56 9 4/10 0/1 1/2 1 5 6 4   2 1   1 6 15
5 KAHUDI, CHARLES 25:25 6 0/1 1/2 3/4 1 2 3           3 2 5
6 LACOMBE, PAUL 14:19   0/1 0/2         1 1 3 1   4   -7
14 GIST, JAMES 25:51 6 3/8 0/1   2 1 3       1   1 1 4
19 FALL, YOUSSOUPHA 7:23       0/2 2   2             1 1
25 HOWARD, WILLIAM 31:08 7 2/3 1/4   1 5 6 1           2 12
28 HOUINSOU, KYMANY 20:06 2 1/2 0/1 0/1 1 2 3     1   1 1 2 1
32 STRAZEL, MATTHEW 12:44 5 1/4 1/1             2     2   -2
37 ANTETOKOUNMPO, KOSTAS 13:03 8 2/2 1/1 1/4 1 2 3 1 3   1   3 3 13
Team             5 5               5
Totals 200:00 60 17/43 6/15 8/16 9 23 32 7 4 10 4 2 18 21 55
        39.5% 40% 50%
Head coach: PARKER, TJ
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 11:40 8 2/4   4/8   3 3 1 1 1     2 5 9
5 SANLI, SERTAC 15:27 8 4/8 0/3   3 2 5 1 1 1 2 2 4   3
8 MARTINEZ, SERGI 19:54 5 1/2 1/1   1 1 2 3 2     1 1 1 10
10 SMITS, ROLANDS 15:16 2 0/2 0/1 2/2 1 4 5 2         1 2 7
14 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 20:05 2 1/3 0/2   2 2 4 1 1 3     4 1 -2
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 17:37   0/2 0/1   2 4 6 1   1     3 1 1
20 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 23:33 25 1/1 7/12 2/2 1 6 7 2   1   1 2 3 28
24 KURIC, KYLE 22:17 3   1/4   1   1 1           1 3
31 JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS 24:16 8 4/7     1 2 3 5   3     1 1 10
33 MIROTIC, NIKOLA 15:59 15 3/4 3/5     2 2           2 2 14
42 CAICEDO, MICHAEL 11:18 4 2/3 0/2   2   2 1 1 1     1   3
43 UBAL, AGUSTIN 2:38                           1 1
Team           2 3 5               5
Totals 200:00 80 18/36 12/31 8/12 16 29 45 18 6 11 2 4 21 18 92
        50% 38.7% 66.7%
Head coach: JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS

Head Coaches

PARKER, TJ
LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne
"Credit to Barcelona. They played a good game. Way more intense than us. A lot of second-chance points, offensive rebounds. We ran out of gas."
JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
FC Barcelona
"A lot of silly mistakes, we let them back in the game. We were really solid from the beginning defensively, then some fouls on the shooters, some forgetting of the players, some forgetting of situations allowed them to come back. Overall, when we found the solidness that we played for the most part of the second half, it was nice to watch. And then, when you find a player who is so hot, like Laprovittola today, it is nice to see. We are taking wins. At this point of the season, the most important thing is to keep improving."

Players

LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS
FC Barcelona
"I think the team played very well. We won by 20 points in a tough arena. We have to keep playing with this mentality, and play hard, with everybody helping the team. No matter the injuries, and who is on the court, we have to stick together. We expected a lot from this week. The game against CSKA was crazy, really crazy. Tonight, we expected physicality and a good team with a lot of talent. I think we played really well."
JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS
FC Barcelona
"Coach said during halftime that we have to play faster, when we play slow they can run back on defense and push us out of our positions. So we played faster, we made a lot of three-pointers and difficult shots. But we played great, so it is easier to play on offense. The EuroLeague season is very long, only 11 games have passed. It is nice we are in the first place. We are working, our mentality is to win every game. We are on the right path."