Barça has not been distracted – or at least not much – by playing without an audience in the stands of the Palau Blaugrana and has defeated Maccabi Tel Aviv on this Three Kings Day, relying on a devastating first fifteen minutes. If on Sunday Xavi Pascual’s team scored 105 points against Real Madrid at the Movistar Arena (100-105), this time they were on average reaching 120 when they were 24 points ahead after just fourteen minutes (44-20). But the relaxation and lack of the usual support from their people has led the Blaugrana to jeopardize a clear victory when the Israeli team came within five (77-72) with six minutes left. The appearance at that critical moment of Tornike Shengelia (22 points and 27 PIR) and the subsequent appearance of Nico Laprovittola (14 and 17) ended up safeguarding Barça’s victory, allowing Pascual’s team to break the streak of two defeats in the Euroleague (Fenerbahçe and AS Mónaco) and settle among the top six in the standings.
Barça has started cold without the usual support of its fans, who have suffered the senselessness of not being able to see their team in situ while the teams of the country that caused this situation do so in their pavilions in Israel in front of their people. The first three minutes saw an exchange of baskets and Maccabi ahead (7-9) until Miles Norris decided to once again show the shooting skills that led Barça to bet on him. Three consecutive triples plus a counterattack by the American have given Barça a first advantage (15-9), which has no longer stopped there. Infected by the power forward’s aim, his teammates have joined the triple party to score seven (of nine) in the first quarter (32-19) and make more than one think that Fenerbahçe’s record could be attacked, which two seasons ago set the Euroleague record with 24.
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The Barça’s three-point pace dropped in the second quarter but not the scoring rate. The relief has been taken by the interiors, with Shengelia and, above all, Willy Hernangómez roaming freely in the zone until reaching a spectacular 44-20 when only fourteen minutes had been played. But there Barça’s face has changed. The defense has stopped working and the ideas have run out in attack. The triples, now, were from Maccabi, which has returned to the game, with Blatt and Lundberg as the protagonists in the absence of the injured Lonnie Walker, Maccabi’s main offensive reference with 15.3 points on average in this Euroleague. Faced with the despair of Xavi Pascual, the Barça lead had been reduced by half at half-time (56-44).
The images of Barça vs Maccabi behind closed doors at the Palau
Barça managed to limit damage in the third quarter, in which they recovered a good part of their aim and better closed their rival’s paths towards the hoop. A pair of triples by Punter seemed to have redefined the game and brought his team closer to a comfortable victory (69-51).
Technical sheet
Barça-Maccabi Tel Aviv, 93-83
93 – Barça (32+24+21+16): Satoransky (9), Punter (12), Cale (6), Norris (11), Hernángomez (10), -starting five-, Marcos (3), Vesely (2), Shengelia (22), Laprovittola (14), Fall (-), Keita (-) and Parra (4).
83 – Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv (19+25+19+20): Blatt (17), Lundberg (14), Hoard (15), Brisset (6), Sorkin (8), -cinco inicial-, Clark III (2), Santos (10), Lavi (-), Rayman (4), Dibartolomeo (-), Dowtin Jr (-) and Leaf (7).
Referees: Milan Nedovic (ESL), Jakub Zamojski (POL) and Stefan Calic (SRB). They called out a technical foul against coach Oded Kattash (min.16) by Maccabi Rapyd Tel Aviv. No eliminated.
Incidents: match of the twentieth day of the Euroleague played at the Palau Blaugrana (Barcelona) behind closed doors.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Relying on several questionable decisions by the referees, who charged Hernangómez and Vesely with four fouls, Maccabi has been cutting back to just five points in the 34th minute (77-72). Punter couldn’t get the shots in and Pascual had to bet on Shengelia, whom he returned to the court to play the decisive attacks of the match. The Georgian responded in a big way, with six points in a row that gave peace of mind to his teammates, and Laprovittola finished off the job with another six points that left the game a foregone conclusion (92-78).
