2021-22Regular SeasonRound 9
FC Barcelona 93
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 67
November 11, 2021 CET: 21:00
Local time: 21:00 PALAU BLAUGRANA

Barcelona routs Baskonia at Palau

FC Barcelona returned to its winning ways in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague by overwhelming Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 93-67 at Palau Blaugrana on Thursday. Barcelona improved to 7-2 in the standings, snapping a two-game losing streak, while Baskonia dropped to 3-6. Nikola Mirotic led the winners with 25 points and Nico Laprovittola and Brandon Davies each added 11 for Barcelona. Steven Enoch paced Baskonia with 22 points while Rokas Giedraitis added 12. Barcelona used a mammoth 18-0 run to get a 32-15 margin at the end of the first quarter. The hosts boosted their margin to 55-31 at halftime and to 68-37 behind an outstanding Mirotic, more than enough to seal the outcome long before the final buzzer.

Enoch got Baskonia going with back-to-back dunks. Mirotic scored in the low post, but Jayson Granger matched that with a jumper for a 2-6 Baskonia lead. Sertac Sanli stepped up with a layup and Mirotic struck from downtown to put Barcelona ahead, 7-6. Enoch followed a layup with a jumper to tie it at 10-10. Laprovittola struck twice from downtown, Sanli added another and Davies took over with a three-point play in an 18-0 run that broke the game open, 28-10. Simone Fontecchio stepped up with a tip-in and Vanja Marinkovic added an up-and-under layup but Rokas Jokubaitis and Davies set a 32-15 Barcelona lead after 10 minutes.

Rolands Smits dunked early in the second quarter and Davies matched Enoch's jump hook with a layup. Davies scored again and Kyle Kuric buried a wide-open triple that broke the game open, 41-17. Granger downed a step-back jumper and Giedraitis dunked, but an unstoppable Mirotic kept Barcelona way ahead, 48-23. Wade Baldwin IV buried a mid-range jumper and Enoch copied him to get Baskonia within 50-28. Laprovittola and Giedraitis exchanged three-pointers and Calathes added a fastbreak layup to fix the halftime score at 55-31.

Mirotic scored around the basket soon after the break and soon added back-to-back three-pointers for a 63-33 Barcelona lead. Enoch erased Nick Calathes's fastbreak layup with an alley-oop slam and Marinkovic added a tip-in to make it 65-37. Mirotic buried another corner triple and soon gave Barcelona a new game-high lead, 70-37. Calathes buried a deep three-pointer and Jokubaitis added a fastbreak layup. Davies banked in a close shot and Kuric beat the third-quarter buzzer with a tip-in that made it a 40-point game, 81-41.

Fontecchio scored in penetration early in the fourth quarter, but Sanli did better with a corner triple. Giedraitis answered from downtown and Matt Costello followed a dunk with a couple of layups to make it 84-53 after a 0-10 run. Pierre Oriola stepped up with a put-back layup off a Barcelona timeout and Jokubaitis scored in transition for an 88-53 cushion. Nothing changed in the final 4 minutes, as Barcelona had already cruised to a very convincing home win.

Barcelona displays an outstanding first quarter

FC Barcelona grabbed another home win by downing Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz 93-67 at Palau Blaugrana. An excellent first quarter put Barcelona on the right track to win the game. Barcelona made 8 of 9 two-pointers and 4 of 7 three-pointers, grabbed 7 rebounds and dished 7 assists to just 1 turnover. With the game tied at 10-10, Nikola Mirotic stepped up with a driving layup, Nico Laprovittola hit a couple of triples, Sertac Sanli also struck from downtown, Brandon Davies ignited the crowd with a three-point play and by the time Sergi Martinez hit free throws, Barcelona had an 18-0 run and the lead for good, 28-10.

Enoch has solid game in defeat

Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz registered a 93-67 road loss against FC Barcelona, but one of the least experienced players had a promising performance at Palau Blaugrana. Center Steven Enoch led Baskonia with 22 points on 7-of-8 two-point shooting and 8-of-8 on free throws plus 8 rebounds, a block and 6 fouls drawn for a PIR of 35. His previous personal-best marks were 12 points, 6 rebounds and a PIR of 10. His accumulated PIR in his eight previous games was 36. Enoch showed what he is capable of and will try to keep his personal momentum going.

Mirotic's near-perfect shooting night

Nikola Mirotic only played 18 minutes and 20 seconds in FC Barcelona's Round 9 game against Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, but it was plenty of time for him to please the crowd with a stellar performance. Mirotic only missed 1 free throw attempt on his way to 25 points. He made all of his 4 two-pointers, 4 three-pointers and 5 of 6 free throws. Mirotic added 8 rebounds - 3 of them on the offensive end, 2 assists, 1 steal and 4 fouls drawn for a season-best PIR of 37. It tied his career-best PIR; he previously had 37 with Barcelona against FC Bayern Munich on March 6, 2020.

Brandon Davies - FC Barcelona - EB21
Thursday, November 11, 2021
Euroleague.net
Referees: JAVOR, DAMIR; DIFALLAH, MEHDI; NIKOLIC, UROS
Attendance: 4398
By Quarter1234
FC Barcelona32232612
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz15161026
End of Quarter1234
FC Barcelona32558193
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz15314167
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 15:26 11 5/9   1/1 1   1 4   1   1 2 1 9
5 SANLI, SERTAC 11:18 8 1/1 2/3     1 1 4         2 1 11
8 MARTINEZ, SERGI 13:26 3   0/1 3/4   1 1 1 1       2 2 4
10 SMITS, ROLANDS 17:54 4 1/2 0/2 2/2   7 7 1   1     1 2 9
14 HAYES-DAVIS, NIGEL 22:25 2 1/5 0/1     2 2   2 1     2 1 -1
18 ORIOLA, PIERRE 13:16 2 1/1 0/1   1   1   2 1     4   -1
20 LAPROVITTOLA, NICOLAS 19:22 11 1/1 3/5     1 1   1 1     3   7
24 KURIC, KYLE 17:13 8 1/2 1/2 3/3 1 2 3 1   1   1   1 9
31 JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS 20:22 8 4/5 0/1         5 1 1   1   2 12
33 MIROTIC, NIKOLA 18:20 25 4/4 4/4 5/6 3 5 8 2 1 1     1 4 37
42 CAICEDO, MICHAEL 11:20 2 1/5 0/1     1 1           2   -4
99 CALATHES, NICK 19:38 9 3/4 1/2 0/2 1 2 3 7 2 2   1 3 1 12
Team           2   2               2
Totals 200:00 93 23/39 11/23 14/18 9 22 31 25 10 10 0 4 22 15 106
        59% 47.8% 77.8%
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
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
  Rebounds Blocks Fouls
# Player Min Pts 2FG 3FG FT O D T As St To Fv Ag Cm Rv PIR
1 PETERS, LAMAR 15:38 4   1/4 1/2       5   3     3 2 1
5 BALDWIN IV, WADE 13:45 3 1/5 0/1 1/2   2 2 1   2     3 5  
7 BARRERA, ALEJANDRO DNP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8 SEDEKERSKIS, TADAS 26:03 2 0/4 0/2 2/2 1 5 6 2 1 2 1   2 1 3
9 MARINKOVIC, VANJA 14:55 4 2/3 0/2   1   1               2
11 GRANGER, JAYSON 19:05 4 2/4 0/2         4 1 3     2 1 1
20 FONTECCHIO, SIMONE 20:12 4 2/3 0/1   1 2 3 1 1       2 1 6
23 ENOCH, STEVEN 24:09 22 7/8 0/1 8/8 3 5 8       1     6 35
24 COSTELLO, MATTHEW 17:00 8 4/5 0/1     1 1     1 2   2 2 8
31 GIEDRAITIS, ROKAS 29:44 14 1/3 3/4 3/4   2 2 1 1 3     1 2 12
35 NNOKO, LANDRY 4:33   0/1       1 1     1         -1
47 KURUCS, ARTURS 14:56 2 0/1 0/1 2/2 2 1 3             2 5
Team           2 2 4               4
Totals 200:00 67 19/37 4/19 17/20 10 21 31 14 4 15 4 0 15 22 76
        51.4% 21.1% 85%
Head coach: IVANOVIC, DUSKO

Head Coaches

JASIKEVICIUS, SARUNAS
FC Barcelona
"Congratulations to our players and fans. Job well done. I think today we didn't expect a game like this. It was good to get back on the winning track after two losses on the road. I think that, in general, it was a good game for us. We have time to enjoy it and go prepare the game against Valencia. I believe that it was hard for us to start games well in the last EuroLeague games. We did better tonight, sending the message that this is not going to be easy. From that, we started to play really good basketball. Truth to be told, it was a night to enjoy. We have to look at ourselves: we came out with the right mentality and made them doubt. After that, we were able to share minutes, which is always difficult. We always talk about how long the season is and how difficult it is. Like I said, we have to be happy because a lot of people did well. We will always try to do this. We are rotating a lot, that is our idea. Caicedo was surprised when I called his name in the second quarter, he was looking around, left and right. I am very happy for the kids. This is the way: they have to grow."
IVANOVIC, DUSKO
Bitci Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz
"We played a very bad game tonight, especially on defense. Barcelona played very hard and we were not ready to play like this. We had many, many problems on offense. No game. It was a disastrous game. In 40 minutes, Barcelona scored almost 100 points and we only committed 15 fouls. At least, we could fight and could foul out, all of them, to see what happens. Baskonia was always a team that fought, at least it fought for 40 minutes. And now, every time with have difficulties on offense - and it is true that we have problems in halfcourt offense, in many games, even some that we won - when the opponents get a little bit of advantage, the team falls down. It can be a mental issue or a quality issue, but I am sure our mentality has an impact on that. Barcelona played as always. Barcelona is not the problem, it's us. I never give up. I don't give up but I believe my team gave up. For instance, we didn't fight tonight. Every game is different, it is a new game. We have to forget about it and come out with different energy and a different mentality, thinking that we can play against anyone. That is my message."

Players

MIROTIC, NIKOLA
FC Barcelona
"Amazing performance by the whole team. I think that after one loss, we really took seriously this game from the beginning, with defensive intensity. We played well offensively. We shared the ball and everybody scored. I am very happy about the team. Important win for us. I am always trying to do my best. I am always saying thanks to my teammates, thanks to my coaching staff. It is not always about me, it is about the team. The team is playing good and they are playing some offenses for me and I really felt good today, especially physically. I scored some good looks. I am happy myself but more about the win."
JOKUBAITIS, ROKAS
FC Barcelona
"We played good for the whole 40 minutes, with good intensity, good defense. Of course, they didn't make open shots but our defense was pretty good and we could run on offense, so that's it. We needed to win. We prepared a lot for this game and needed to win after these two losses. Right now, we are looking forward to Valencia [in the Spanish League]."
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