Barcelona flirted with a historic feat in Istanbul. They lost by 25 on their visit to Fenerbahce (40-15) and came close to turning the score around in an epic comeback (62-59). The effort made the Blaugranas run out of strength to face the final stretch and the Turks punished their rival’s mistakes to end up winning easily (88-74) and even take the average in the event of a tie. Thus it was that Jasikevicius consumed his revenge against his ex.
Datasheet
- 88 – Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (23+23+16+26): Calathes (13), Dorsey (4), Pierre (3), Hayes-Davis (12), Motley (9) – starting five – Sanli (2), Biberovic (12), Guduric (13), Wilbekin (18), Noua (2) and Papagiannis (-).
- 74 – Barça (11+14+32+17): Satoransky (9), Laprovittola (11), Kalinic (5), Parker (4), Vesely (4) -starting five- Rubio (8), Abrines (4) , Willy Hernangómez (9), Jokubaitis (-), Da Silva (2), Nnaji (-) and Brizuela (18).
- Referees: Matej Boltauzer (SLV), Joseph Bissang (FRA) and Luka Kardum (CRO). Eliminated by Laprovittola (min.40).
- Incidents: Matchday 30 of the regular phase of the Euroleague played at the Ülker Sports Arena.
The Blaugranas struggle for second place and of the four remaining days they face three at home. The Turks, launched, are one of the fittest teams in the Euroleague. The Spanish participants know this well. They have beaten Baskonia, Madrid, Valencia Basket and Barça by hand and sometimes with vast superiority..
The visitors had a gloomy first half in which they moved almost every minute. Fenerbahce showed much more intensity. The rebound, the rhythm, the success and the defense were Turkish. Jasikevicius, well aware of many of his rivals, knew how to contain his production. At the end of the first quarter, 23-11 with the Blaugranas making 4/17 in shots.
The start of the second quarter was worse. A 17-4 partial seemed to leave everything settled: 40-15 and 57-7 rating at that time. The young man Biberovic, Wilbekin with a triple on the horn from nine meters and Calathes With another distant success they left Barcelona very touched, disappearing in the face of the rival’s voracity and their own mistakes.
Brizuela changes the game
But Brizuela’s appearance changed everything. He scored two triples before the break (46-25) and continued his streak after the restart. He added 13 points in four minutes. Barça stood on their shoulders in search of an impossible comeback. First, based on offensive rebound and defense, he got into the game also taking advantage of the opponent’s relaxation. After He started to believe it with three triples in a row from Laprovittola. The blaugranas did 25 points in the first half and 32 in the third act. Already in the last one, Vesely made it 62-59 after an 8-25 run. Unimaginable not long ago.
The culés had done the most difficult thing, but they needed to finish. Some arbitration decisions hurt them and also Kalinic’s anti-deportive nonsense translated into five consecutive points by Wilbekin. Fenerbahce began to punish every mistake, especially a couple of losses, and a three-pointer by Biberovic acted as a dagger (82-67, 3:57 left). Of the exazulgranas, Hayes-Davis and Calatheshelped put the finishing touch. Barça had gone from hell to almost touching heaven. He ended up in purgatory after dreaming about the deed.
2024-03-20 20:08:09
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