Barcelona seemed liberated without Juan Peñaroya, achieving its sixth victory in the Euroleague (74-75). The Barcelona team, led by Oscar Orellana, the club’s man – two decades at the entity since he joined as a delegate -, while bosses decided whether to sign Xavi Pascual or another coach, did a great job in defense that allowed them to take the initiative in the first half and resist Bayern Munich’s pressure in the second.
Barcelona was not used to conceding so few points in the first half (32) or at the end (74). Dario Brizuela and his teammates succeeded in draining Andreas Obst, one of the best scorers in the Euroleague, and in attack, the team succeeded in losing its nerve with the entry of Nico Laprovittola, who recovered from injury, to raise Barcelona’s lead to 12 points (19-31).
Claiborne took advantage of the changes in Bayern’s defense, which did not know how to stop its opponent. Spencer Dinwiddie, who scored half of Bayern’s points in the first half (12 goals) and did not score anything in the second half, tried in every possible way. He had the opportunity to compensate at the last minute with two free throws to lead the Bavarian team to extra time, but he wasted the second. Matt on the beach at Bayern, who were closing the gap with a good second half, more serious in defense and stopping Barcelona’s scoring frenzy in the paint. But Orellana’s team did not fall apart, and the cold-blooded Toko Shengelia, the glue of this group, did a little of everything (10 points, five rebounds and four assists).
Obst was having a bad day. Five shots and no injuries. But the German appeared at the right moment, with his first hat-trick two minutes before the end (73-74). Although it was not his night – he failed in the next two games – nor Punter’s night (four points), and the final attack was with Dinwiddie, who made a foul to force another five minutes into the game, but his hand was shaken and the Barcelona team ran to hug Orellana.
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