defeat in Boiler in a match in which Barça has largely been towed by those of Saras they were not comfortable in attack, although the defensive intensity was key to have options to win the game so far. Higgins, with 17 points, and Davies, with 16, have been the most prominent Barça players.
Initial equality
The match started with a triple by Laprovittola. From here on, Unics Kazan was ahead on the scoreboard with minimal differences, taking advantage of the losses of Saras’ men (13-8, min 9). A difference that has been reduced and more so with the partial 0-4 of the Blaugrana (17-14). The positive notes have been the good performance of Higgins and the return of Calathes.
In the second period, Barça has improved in the middle of an open duel and in which John and Lorenzo Brown have been the most outstanding men of the local team. A few minutes in which Saras’ men have shown a good defensive level despite not being entirely successful in attack. On the Barça side, the most outstanding players at the break were Higgins, with eight points, and Smits, with six. Barça dominated by four points at the break (31-35).
The locals turn the scoreboard
After the restart, Unics Kazan has reduced the difference in favor of the azulgrana until it is 41-41 (min 28). And the local partial did not stop here, since it reached 10-0 (47-41). A triple by Vorontsevich culminated a bad period for the azulgrana (52-48).
Barça has continued to try in the last period, with some successful Higgins and Davies, very intense under the rim, but without luck. And it is that the locals have been in tow of Unics Kazan, who dominated by a difference of close to 10 points. In the end, Saras’ men ended up losing 70-64.
Match sheet:
Unics Boiler, 70
Barça, 64
Unics Win: Brown J (20), Hezonja (11), Uzinskii (-), Vorontsevich (6) and Brown L (22) -initial five-, Spissu (-), Canaan (6), Brantley (-), Zaitcev (-) and Jekiri (5).
Barça: Calathes (-), Martinez (-), Hayes-Davies (5), Laprovittola (8), Martinez (-) and Sanli (2) -initial five-, Davies (16), Exum (-), Smits (6) , Higgins (17), Kuric (6), Jokubaitis (2) and Nnaji (2).
Partials: 17-14 / 14-21 / 23-13 / 16-16
Referees: Robert Lottermoser, Elias Koromilas and Joseph Bissang.
