Barça ends its streak in Istanbul

Barça lost this Tuesday against Fenerbahçe (72-71) in the eighteenth day of the Regular Phase of the Euroleague, a duel decided by three final free throws by the Turkish team that cut the streak of five consecutive victories of Xavi Pascual’s team, who since the arrival of the Catalan coach had only lost in Istanbul -against Efes-, in the domestic competition.

The blaugranas, with important losses such as those of Toko Shengelia and Will Clyburn, were able to recover from a disadvantage of up to ten points in the second quarter and even led the scoreboard in the last quarter, led by a superb Darío Brizuela (19 points), who took over from Kevin Punter (20). However, the strange difference of 24-4 in free throws taken in favor of the locals ended up defining the match.

In fact, the strict decision of the referees to grant three free throws to Wade Baldwin IV with ten seconds remaining was decisive for the comeback, which could end the Blaugranas’ lead (12-6) and leave Hapoel Tel-Aviv alone in the lead.

At the start of the duel at the Ülker Sports Arena, Xavi Pascual’s team reacted to the Turks’ 4-0 start with a 0-9 partial that caused the first timeout of the match. However, they could not close the basket well, conceding up to six offensive rebounds to their rival in the first period.

Saras Jasikevicius’s team, which relied on eight points from American guard Talen Horton-Tucker, took advantage of the four Barça losses to close the quarter five points ahead (17-13), a lead that continued to increase in the second quarter.

Forward Tarik Biberovic, with 13 points in just over four minutes, allowed Fenerbahçe to reach the maximum difference of the match with two minutes left before the break (35-25), but Kevin Punter – who scored 43 points and a PIR of 40 in the record victory against Kosner Baskonia – came to the rescue.

The Barça guard opened the 8-0 culé partial with a triple and brought his team closer with a 2+1 that made it 35-33 before going to the locker room, all after a good defense by Tomas Satoransky that frustrated the last local possession.

The current champion of the competition tried to escape after the restart, although the Blaugranas responded perfectly to the pressure. Two three-pointers from power forward Miles Norris and Darío Brizuela put the Catalans ahead for the first time in a long time (48-50); Fenerbahçe did not give up and managed to reach the final set with the minimum advantage (53-52).

Again, two triples by Brizuela broke the hostilities at the beginning of the last quarter (57-60); The Basque guard led his team with four new goals to make it +5 (59-64) with just under six minutes left. Barça continued trying from the perimeter, recovering from two failed attempts with a steal by Brizuela (61-66) that gave the Blaugrana the maximum advantage of the duel.

The Ottomans also hit from the 6.75 line to regain control (67-66). With one minute left, Punter scored three to put Xavi Pascual’s team ahead, and with only 23 seconds left a personal foul on Jan Vesely made it 69-71 on the scoreboard.

However, a foul by Myles Cale on Wade Baldwin IV with just ten seconds left allowed Fenerbahçe to have three free throws, which the American scored. A great last defense left the final score 72-71, which interrupted the culé team’s streak.

TECHNICAL SHEET.

–RESULT: FENERBAHÇE, 72 – BARÇA, 71 (35-33, at rest).

–TEAMS.

FENERBAHÇE: Hall (11), Horton-Tucker (16), Biberovic (16), Melli (6) y Birch (6) –inicial quintet–; Bacot Jr. (-), Birsen (-), Baldwin IV (15), Boston Jr. (-) and Colson (2).

BARÇA: Satoransky (-), Punter (20), Cale (4), Norris (11) and Vesely (8) –starting quintet–; Marcos (3), Brizuela (19), Hernangómez (4), Laprovittola (2) and Parra (-).

–PARTIALS: 17-13, 18-20, 18-19 and 19-19.

–REFEREES: Hordov, Foufis and Kardum. No eliminated.

–PAVILLION: Ülker Sports Arena.