Barça shot proudly in the last quarter to beat Virtus Bologna (88-81) at the Palau Blaugrana, where the Barça fans, who had greeted the players and managers with whistles a week ago against Real Madrid, were reconciled with a team that is in the noble zone of the Euroleague. In Óscar Orellana’s penultimate match as interim coach before the arrival of Xavi Pascual, Barça completed a 27-14 run in the final 10 minutes to resolve a closely contested match.
Five local players exceeded 10 points – Punter (17), Vesely (12), Laprovittola (10), Clyburn (13) and Shengelia (10) – in a Barça team in which they stood out from the perimeter (14 triples on 33 attempts) against a competitive rival in which guard Matthew Morgan stood out (17 points).
The match started in a draw, with an exchange of points between the two teams. Barça, who struggled to close the defensive rebound, clung to the success of Punter and Laprovittola from the 6.75 meter line to counter the tireless attack of Dusko Ivanovic’s team (7-9, m.5). In the first quarter the local team stops Carsen Edwards, star of Virtus, but Diouf, Diarra and Smailagic pierce Barça’s zone, which however ends the first quarter with a small advantage thanks to Nico Laprovittola’s triple (20-19).
The match continues along the same lines, without either team interrupting the duel, although the pace seems to be controlled by the Italian team, which reacts and devours every attack with passes that easily dismantle the defense of Barça’s second unit. Led in attack by the versatility of Jallow, author of a spectacular dunk, and Morgan, the transalpine team established a favorable advantage of six points (14 m). Barça presses defensively and is especially noticeable in the defensive rebounding. Virtus has no second chances and Óscar Orellana’s students easily find Vesely and Kevin Punter. A 7-0 run in the last 2 and a half minutes culminated with two triples by Punter, the last on the mermaid from center court, which closed the score 45-43 in favor of the home team before the break.
Even after passing through the locker rooms the duel did not stop. Edwards, with two easy consecutive baskets, brought his team back into the lead (45-47, m. 21). But the protagonist of the third act at Barça was a former Virtus player, Will Clyburn, who played with class in the low post, scoring 8 points that kept them afloat in a third quarter in which the guests seemed to have clearer ideas on what to play. With patient basketball, the transalpine team signed, under Morgan’s external hierarchy, a 2-9 run in the last three minutes of the third period which left Barça, misled by the perimeter, six points behind (61-67) before facing the last 10 minutes of the match. And when Barça resumed success from the perimeter, they regained control of the match.
A triple from Brizuela and two more consecutive from Parra in the first 2 minutes and 8 seconds of the period gave the locals air (70-69) and forced Ivanovic to stop the match. The intensity of Barça’s defense made the Italian team pale, overwhelmed in attack and unable to do damage with the blocking and continuation that had penalized Barça so much in the first three quarters. And from 61-69 we go to 77-69 in five minutes.
A 16-0 that inflamed the Palau crowd, which had been left orphaned in recent years by outbursts of team pride. The game was far from over. The Azzurri, with Diouf in the area and Morgan on the perimeter, took three points with less than two minutes to go. But a triple by Clyburn with 53 seconds left closed the game in favor of the Catalans, who on Sunday against Baskonia will have another opportunity, this time in the Endesa League, to continue making peace with their fans before the arrival of Xavi Pascual.
