He Barça powerful and overwhelming that expected to be seen from the beginning of the season appeared this Thursday, almost unexpectedly, during his visit to the The power of Bologna, the team coached by Sergio Scariolo. It was a display in every way (75-92), solvent behind in defense and overwhelming in attack, with which he passed over the Italian squad, to hit back for his victory at the Palau. One week before the Cup dispute, there could not be better news for the Barça team, to which Sergi Martínez returned, after undergoing knee surgery in October of last year.
Barça found his usual references in attack, Mirotic y a Laprivottola. But also to others who are not as good as Abrines and Jokubaitis to maintain their intensity during the first three quarters, in which the Catalans had already decided the outcome, with lethal efficiency from triple (15 of 30). AND showed seriousness and defensive concentration with which he disconnected Virtuswho could only score 10 points in the second set and 12 in the third, to end up seeing themselves 37 points behind (31-68), which turned the last period into a run-around, in which Virtus softened the blow.
“We played very solid for three quarters. We have to build our consistency from here”, assured Jasikevicius, adding proudly: “I think that not many teams are capable of achieving a victory like that in Bologna”.
Since the start of the season, Barça have been accused of softness, of lacking the killer instinct, of disconnecting in games and allowing their rivals to recover when they were on the ropes. But Jasikevicius’s team was the complete opposite on his visit to Italy. He took out his most lethal profile and shook the Virtusa team that had left a good feeling in this Euroleague, but that, this time, failed to compete.
Mirotic reacts
The appearance of the best collective image of Barça also coincided with the return of a very solid image of Miroticwho in recent days had shown poor percentages and a lack of confidence, but once again maximized his presence on the court (17 points in 19 minutes) to conclude as the MVP of the evening, with Jokubaitis’ confidence ascendant (13 points) and with a lethal Abrines, who scored four triples without a miss.
Barça showed a overwhelming superiority after a first set of some balance (17-22). From the second, the Catalans were a steamroller. They already went to halftime with a scandalous margin (27-47) after Jasikevicius’s team chained 21 points without an answer from their rival, with an outstanding role from Abrines, author of 13 points in that set. And in the restart, they kept their foot on the accelerator until they opened a gap that was already unattainable, which changed the attitude of both. Barça, aware of its superiority, stopped. And La Virtus, stung by the blow, clenched her teeth to save her pride and leave a marker that didn’t hurt so much.
Datasheet:
75- Power Bologna Segafredo (17+10+12+36): Teodosic (3), Hackett (-), Weems (6), Shengelia (10), Jaiteh (14), Mannion (6), Belinelli (12), Pajola (-), Bako (8) and Lundberg (13), Mickey (3) and Abass (-).
92- Barça (22+25+27+18): Satoransky (1), Laprovittola (10), Kalinic (9), Mirotic (17), Vesely (4), Sanli (-), Martinez (-), Abrines (16), Higgins (9) and Tobey (7), Jokubaitis (13) and Nnaji (6).
Referees: Robert Lottermoser (ALE), Milan Nedovic (ESL) and Adar Peer (ISR). No deleted.
Incidences: match of the twenty-fourth round of the Euroleague played at the Virtus Segafredo Arena in Bologna (Italy). Before the initial jump, a minute of silence was observed in memory of those who died from the earthquake in Turkey.
