Euroleague: Valencia grits its teeth to frustrate a great Laprovittola and defeat Bara | euroleague 2022

The Argentinian, with 28 points, was the best argument for the Barcelona fans at La Fonteta

Valencia had to sweat the hell out to finally beat Bara at La Fonteta by 84-83. Although his sensations were always much better than that of a team that Jasikevicius He accused, rightly, of a lack of competitive tension in too many phases of the duel, the quality and the aim from beyond the line of 6.75 of Nicols Laprovittola (28 points, 31 rating) was about to add a new notch to the Barcelona belt. The Argentinian was the most brilliant in a team that was choked over and over again by attacking actions, no matter how much they Jan Vesely signed a very promising start and, in the end, just knelt before a rival who, with Bojan Dubljevic, Jasiel Rivero, Jared Harper and Chris Jones Like more prominent figures, he always believed much more in his chances of winning.

Bara and Valencia signed a very even start. This was witnessed by the 20-20 with which they reached the end of the first quarter. The locals got off to a strong start and confirmed their initial superiority through two consecutive three-pointers from a Webb that was diluted a bit with the passing of the minutes. The Catalans, for their part, answered above all through a Vesely very involved in the game to get to leave by seven points in the light (12-19), but they found themselves in the final moments of the period with the irruption of a Jasiel Rivero that will allow the valencianistas to send the duel in a draw to the second quarter.

That final rush, perhaps, allowed Valencia to stand in the second period with very high morale. So much so that they came to put seven points below on the scoreboard (41-34) to a Bara that Jasikevicius even accused at halftime of not really competing with the Valencians. The triples of Prepelic, Boderaugh y Dubljevic, along with a remarkable Pradilla, punished a Barça team that, despite everything, could find the board to hold on to in the final moments from the fourth to go to the changing rooms three points away from the group that trains lex Mumbr (41-38) and with a lot of pending homework.

The talk that Jasikevicius must have given his players in the locker room must have paid off well. The azulgrana jumped onto the field apparently spurred on and, through the reliability of Laprovittola and some flashes from Mirotic, managed to get briefly ahead on the scoreboard. An advantage that was hardly a mirage. Valencia, through Dubljevic, Prepelic and Rivero, responded one by one to Barça’s blows and managed to leave ahead again in the last and final period, even if it was only by three points. His sensations, yes, were much better than what was reflected on the scoreboard.

And to those good feelings, precisely, Lex Mumbr’s team was hooked to stifle once and for all any Barcelona attempt to resist defeat. I try that, almost always, I had Laprovittola as the great protagonist. The locals, in fact, came to leave by ten points on the scoreboard when the Catalans most threatened to step on their heels. And, at the moment of truth, they took perfect advantage of some of Harper’s claws and the cold blood of Jones to end up definitively taking the 84-83 victory, after a final three-pointer from Kalinic and after the Barcelona fans had the option of forcing overtime with 83-80 in the light with a shot from Laprovittola that put the heart in a fist to the Fonteta.