Barça has competed bravely on one of the most demanding tracks in Europe, but has finished losing to Olympiacos on matchday 25 of the Euroleague (87-75). The Blaugranas knew how to react to a bad start, they turned the game around in a brilliant third quarter led by a spectacular Will Clyburn on their return, but they have gotten stuck in a very thick last period. Despite the defeat, a final basket from vesely has allowed the average to be preserved. The next challenge for Xavi Pascual’s men will be this Sunday against Murcia.
First discreet room
The game has started uphill. After the first points that allowed Barça to open the scoring, the Greek team imposed pace, intensity and success. A 13-0 run has done a lot of damage to the Blaugranas, who were outrebounded and lacked offensive fluidity. Olympiacos found easy points in transition and second options, and closed the first period with a clear 27-14 that forced Barça to fight back.
Working and reacting
Far from giving up, Barça began to break ground in the second quarter. With more defensive activity and finding goals from the perimeter, Pascual’s men have been progressively reducing differences. Brizuela has given air, vesely has added close to the rim and Punter He has contributed from the free kick. From -17 we moved to a much more competitive scenario, and the Blaugranas went into halftime alive (46-37), with the feeling that the game was changing based on work.
Clyburn lights up the game
The third quarter has had its own name: Will Clyburn. The American forward reappeared after the injury to the femoral biceps in his left leg suffered at the end of December, and he did so with a bang. Baskets of all colors, offensive leadership and personality in hot moments. Barça came out strong, with a partial that left the Greeks offside and allowed them to equalize and surpass the score for the first time since the initial 0-2. Olympiacos reacted to open the gap again, but the Blaugranas responded again to close the quarter with an advantage and left all the excitement open (59-64), after a spectacular period.
A last quarter too thick
When the game called for a cool head, Barça got stuck. Erratic in success, imprecise in attack, with problems in free throws and suffering in defense. The score remained frozen for almost six minutes, breaking all positive inertia. Furthermore, the refereeing criteria, allowing a lot of contact, has favored an Olympiacos team that has become great at home. Everything came in for the locals, including a very forced triple by Dorsey with two defenders on top that seemed to also decide the average. But with 0.7 seconds, vesely He scored a saving basket that left the difference at 12 points and avoided a greater evil. Finally, the result was 87-75.
THE SHEET
OLYMPIACOS, 87
BARÇA, 75
Olympiakos: Walkup (3), Ward (8), Vezenkov (20), Dorsey (17), Milutinov (8) – cinco initial – Peters (2), Joseph (2), Mckissic (5), Jones (16), Fournier (6)
Barça: Punter (15), Vesely (12), Satoransky (5); Shengelia (12), Parra (-) – starting five – Marcos (-), Norris (3), Brizuela (14), Hernangomez (-), Laprovittola (-), Clyburn (14)
Partials: 27-13, 19-24 // 13-27, 28-11
Referees: Sreten Radovic, Piotr Pastusiak, Kristaps Konstantinov
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