There is no way. Barça do not know how to win away from the Palau Blaugrana in the Euroleague: 11 games, 7 defeats with yesterday’s defeat in Milan, the third in a row. He has not won at home since December 22 in Kaunas. Their game in Italy was unfortunate, except for a great third quarter (10-21) and a good performance by Jan Vesely (28 points, 3 rebounds), not enough to come back, even if in the end it came close to 2 points (72-70).
It took Barça barely five minutes to take the initiative at the Mediolanum Forum. Jabari Parker’s 7-8 (4m27s) was the last advantage enjoyed by Roger Grimau’s team, a soft set, harmless in attack and contemplative in defence. The good start, with 4 points from Vesely and 2 from Kalinic (4-6), was a mirage. So Armani Milan warmed up, began to melt the Blaugrana resistance like butter. The final acceleration of the first quarter, a 9-0 half-time, left the Blaugrana very affected: from 14-12 to 23-12, eleven points down which showed Barça’s weakness and lack of reaction, terrible in shooting (5/13) in the first quarter.
Following Murphy’s law, the Barcelona team sank further in the second leg (24-16), in which they lost by 20 points, 45-25 to Shields. No one appeared at Barça, despite the timid irruption of a Willy Hernangómez who connected 4 points, but he stayed there. Enough with an example of the offensive disaster: the first three-pointer did not arrive until 22 seconds were left, 45-28 by Jabari Parker. A disaster, 20 minutes to score a triple. “We have to defend better, if we defend more solidly we will attack better”, predicted Grimau at half-time (47-28), overcome by Ettore Messina’s goal.
After hitting rock bottom in the first half, Barça changed their mentality in the dressing room and increased their defensive intensity. 10-21 in the third quarter fueled his faith, as he went from losing by 19 to losing by just 8 (57-49) in a period in which Vesely shone, going to 22 points to lead the great reaction of the team. Laprovittola and Satoransky had it in their hands to get to -5, but they missed their triples in the last minute; the statistics were poor, with 2/10 from 6.75.
The good play of the third quarter did not go further in the last ten minutes, in which Barça faltered again, and the opponent, to live from the Blaugrana’s mistakes. Thus, Poythress’ 64-51 lead with 3:30 left seemed definitive. But Barça still tried. Parker, with his team’s 4th three-pointer in 16 attempts, got as close as -5 (69-64) with 2 minutes remaining. And Kalinic, only -2 (72-70) when 7 seconds were left with a late triple. Barça drowned on the brink. Seventh defeat in eleven home games. And even so, Barça continues second in the Euroleague with presence in the playoffs on track.
