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.

Thursday, November 11, 2021
Euroleague.net