One of the most decisive weeks of the season for Barça did not start well, their performance at the Ulker Sports Hall in Istanbul was absolutely uninterpretable, halfway between the ridiculous and the heroic, in no man’s land at the end. The best news of the afternoon came from Monaco, where Mirotic’s Armani Milan stormed the Principality and allowed Grimau’s team to maintain second place in the Euroleague alone with four games to go. But with the victory, Fenerbahçe ties with the Monegasques and is just one win behind the Blaugrana, who also gave up the particular basket-average with the Turks that could end up being decisive in such a compressed classification.
The morbidity that marked the reunion of the annoying Jasikevicius with Barça was quickly diluted by the chaos that was experienced on the pitch in a first half unworthy of a team like Grimau’s. Outside of the game, Fenerbahçe ate the Blaugrana as if they had not been served a hot meal in a week. The Turks took all the rebounds and scored almost all of their shots. Barça didn’t even take the bus and didn’t make a single shot (4/17 field goals in the first quarter).
Things didn’t get better in the second quarter, rather they got even worse. If 19-6 had been the worst injury of the first ten minutes, a triple by Calathes, one of the many former players who met this Wednesday, placed a blushing 40-15 (minute 16). If Barça did not break negative scoring records, it was because Brizuela decided to rebel against the situation and scored two triples almost in a row, which somewhat disguised the culé drama.
The importance of those points was appreciated when they left the locker room, because Barça launched a heroic effort for a comeback that seemed impossible. Commendable attitude given the circumstances and that made Fenerbahçe more than nervous. With 59-51, and Barça back in the game, a controversial (and non-existent) foul by Laprovittola and the subsequent technique to Grimau, indignant, cut off the Barça avalanche. But Barça rose again and Vesely cut it to 62-59 (minute 31). It seemed like a mirage but the comeback was on its way to legend. The strength ended there, with an unsportsmanlike move by Kalinic that led to 5 points in a row from Wilbekin that destroyed Barça’s confidence, which once again lowered its arms and lost even the average.
It is Grimau’s turn to raise the morale of his troops because this Friday it is a visit to OAKA and Panathinaikos, another of his pursuers, is just as fierce as Fenerbahçe.
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 Euroleague played at the Ülker Sports Arena.
