Barça and the time of the ‘second unit’

Barça visit Covirán Granada this Wednesday at 9.30pm without the injured Jan Vesely, Cory Higgins and Àlex Abrines

Less common players like Oriol Paulí, Nnaji, Sergi Martínez, Kuric or Da Silva will have a great revalidation

Three days after regaining the lead by beating Madrid at various stages of the match (97-82), Barça will defend first place this Wednesday at witch hour at 9:30 p.m. in Granada in a great test of maturity.

The Barça team paid a high price for the classic and Jan Vesely (left knee discomfort), Cory Higgins (again with lower back problems) and Àlex Abrines with a severe sprain in his left ankle… and thanksbecause the worst was feared. At least, Rokas Jokubaitis returns after overcoming a flu process.

If to this is added that next week they will arrive the first two Euroleague quarterfinal games in the Palau against Zalgiris and that Nikola Mirotic ended up with some discomfort in his buttocks in the match against Madrid, it is a very clear day for the rotations.

The bench, on stage

In the first defense of the lead, Saras will have to resort to several of the less common in a list with the 12 players available from the first team plus the young Lithuanian shooting guard Kasparas Jakucionis.

Sin Vesely, James Nnaji (renewed until 2027) will have a revalidation to confirm his good minutes in the classic with three offensive rebounds. Along with the Nigerian, Oscar da Silva (to rest Mirotic), a Kyle Kuric who is rearing his head again, or youth squad players Oriol Paulí and Sergi Martínez must also take advantage of this opportunity.

“We finished the classic with a bad taste in our mouths due to injuries, but they will be back soon. It is useless to beat Madrid if we lose the following matches. We have to go out 100 percent,” Paulí said..

Ndoye… and Caicedo

Although Pablo Pin’s team have only won three of their last 19 games, they also He has three victories in his last four appearances at the Palacio de los Deportes (83-71 against Carplus Fuenlebrada, 80-66 against ‘Granca’ and 88-67 against UCAM Murcia).

The arrival of ex-Bético Youssou Ndoye is largely to blame for this clear improvement at the beginning of the year (11.6 points and 3.3 rebounds on average) to form a great internal shortlist with the Brazilian Cristiano Felício (12.8 points and 5.1 rebounds) and the Senegalese Petit Niang (8.4 points and 5.7 rebounds).

The other protagonist will be Michael Caicedo. On loan from Barça until the end of the course, the outside is averaging almost five points with stellar performances against Bàsquet Girona (10 points) and ‘Fuenla’ (15). “We are talking and he is happy, he has minutes. I really want to see him and play a good game”, said Paulí about the Spaniard. Other familiar faces of Barcelona in the Granada team are point guard Alex Renfroe and former subsidiary player Lluís Costa.