Before starting the match, Kevin Punter offered Palau his trophy for the best player of last month in the Euroleague, one more sip of the magic potion for the Asterix Barça player who, in a flash, has already won over the Palau. He has springs for legs, golden wrists and a mettle rarely seen, a differential player who when he finds inspiration has no choice. That’s what Baskonia learned, the only team capable of beating Barça at home in the season, then in the ACB. But that was a long time ago and in the Euroleague he couldn’t say a word against a Barça that is at its peak, suggestive and devastating when Punter and Parker see the rim. Something that happened again against Baskonia for said Barça player because they become leaders in Europe.
Pablo Laso‘s patience soon ran out because Barça opened the curtain in combustion, a start very much to Peñarroya’s taste, with hypersonic transitions and shots with hardly any time left on the second hand, a thieves’ basketball that the police couldn’t handle. take the gauntlet (12-2). Punter circulated quickly, Parker played without a brace and Vesely licked his teeth with mid-distance shots (he even celebrated a three-pointer), a true cyclone without remission. Laso’s snorts, as well as the change wheel, were of little use (26-17 at the end of the quarter) because Barça was sweet, a team that improves with each match, as it fits the pieces together and warns that theirs is not a order but a reality, which aspires to everything until it is said otherwise. Because Metu is a huge 4-5; because Juan Núñez matures with each duel; because Anderson and Brizuela can stir the cocktail; because Fall not only has centimeters…
Many names and one that repeatedly does not appear: Willy Hernangómez. Against Baskonia, of course, because he was not called up to show that the player – who came from the NBA and was the best in Eurobasket in 2022 – does not understand himself with Peñarroya as he did not do so with Grimau in the previous year, a center who was chosen to be the pillar of the team and has a more than secondary, perhaps residual, role in the shadow of Vesely (even Metu and Fall), accused by the corridors of lack of intensity and even attitude. A problem that Barça will have to resolve, no matter how much they explain with the orange ball in their hands that they don’t need it either.
Baskonia did not lower its arms, supported by the penetrations of Forrest and supported by Howard, who took the point in the game, mischievous and intelligent when choosing shots after the blocks because Fall did not get out of place [como sí hacía Vesely]a liberation for him and for Baskonia. But Fall also claimed dominance, rebounds, blocks and points under the hoops, until the tightness ended when Which ones Pointer and Zape Parker returned to the hardwood, athletes who do not understand contexts or rules, who seem to relive those matches of streetball (street basketball) that, surely, they played as children. 44-33 and Barça without hesitation or weaknesses.
The script did not change too much after the intermission, as the Barça team was still the brother-in-law at the Christmas table, annoying as hell with a very intense defense, no one like Satoransky and Vesely with their Czech connectionalso Abrines. He tried to replicate Baskonia with Forrest in charge, in addition to Moneke who finally asked himself to play in the game. But Punter told them that nanay, that the Palau is already theirs, that if they wanted to win they should sign an epilogue of aúpa (60-51).
And the opposite happened, as Barcelona once again put on its overalls to defeat its rival, a sign of its ambition and that, unlike in recent times, it can govern a duel head to head, without gaps. no tremors, no disconnections or weaknesses. But, yes, with Punter, Parker and Vesely to explain that this Barça has hands and muscle, head and points.
