Barcelona looked liberated without Joan Peñarroya and added its sixth Euroleague victory (74-75). The Barça team, led by Óscar Orellana, man of the club – twenty years in the entity since he arrived as a cadet delegate -, while the managers were deciding whether to hire Xavi Pascual or another coach, did an excellent job in defense which allowed them to take the lead in the first half and resist the push of Bayern Munich in the second.
Barça was not used to receiving so few points at halftime (32) or at the end (74). Dario Brizuela and his teammates managed to annoy Andreas Obst, one of the best shooters in the Euroleague, and, in attack, the team managed to lose its temper with the entry of Nico Laprovittola, recovered from his injury, giving Barça a 12-point lead (19-31).
Clyburn took advantage of the changes in Bayern’s defense, which did not know how to stop its rival. Spencer Dinwiddie, who scored half of Bayern’s points in the first half (12 goals) and scored none in the second, tried hard. He had the chance to make amends at the last moment, with two free throws to take the Bavarian team to extra time, but he missed the second. He died on the bank of Bayern, who was closing the gap in a good second half, more serious in defense and stopping Barcelona’s goal frenzy in the area. But Orellana’s team did not lose their composure, showing a cool head and Toko Shengelia, the glue of this group, doing a bit of everything (10 points, five rebounds and four assists).
Obst was having a bad day. Five shots and no results. But the German appeared at the right time, with his first triple two minutes from the end (73-74). Although it wasn’t his night – he failed the next two – nor Punter’s (four points), and the last attack was played with Dinwiddie, who committed a foul to force another five minutes of play, but his hand was shaking and the Barça team ran to embrace Orellana.
