The best Barça got into the table against Monaco

Joan Peñarroi’s Barça, which has already shown its progress in recent games, delivered its most powerful message of the season this Wednesday, defeating Monaco with unusual authority (86-71), one of the teams candidate for the next ” Euroleague Final Four. . The Barça side dominated from start to finish against a team that arrived in Palau undefeated and had beaten them in their last three encounters against each other, aided by a high level choral performance embellished by the talent of Kevin Panther. The defender often recalled the player who amazed Europe two seasons ago with Partizan and ended up having his best game in a Barça shirt (21 points).

However, it would be unfair to personalize one player’s victory as the brilliance was collective and even from the bench. Peñarroya had warned the day before that rebounding would be key, and he knew how to ensure that his team would clearly win this battle (39 to 32). He began doing so by taking advantage of the versatility and versatility that always stands out in his team, pairing his two starting fives, Vesely and Hernangomez, with Jabari Parker at the three for the first time. The tactical gamble could not have been better for coach Terrassa, whose team opened up an important first difference in the first quarter (26-16) thanks to its dominance in rebounds (10-5), complemented by the external and internal success of the Panthers. from Hernangomez.

The only gray area for the Barça team came in the early rotations, which Monaco took advantage of to overcome their disadvantage and draw the game in the 13th minute (30-30), when Motiejunas and Haite caused damage in the box. But Obradovic’s team conceded Mike James with 6 points and a 0 rating at the break after 2/5 shots and 1/4 free throws, and Barca once again turned the tables and retired to the locker room with the result. more faithful to what was seen in Palau (47–39).

The best was yet to come and it didn’t take long to arrive. After a threatening response from Monaco (47-44), Parker and the once again hot Panther completely destroyed the visitors’ defense, while Barca’s defense looked increasingly reliable. The only thing missing was for Laprovittola to join the team so that the knockout of Monaco would be completed and Barça would finish at the end of the third quarter with a maximum lead of 17 points (71-54).

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Barça would even increase it a little after Brizuela’s three to open the final quarter, although there the Blaugrana began to think that the job was already done and slowed down the pace quite a bit. As was logical in a match with an opponent of such a level as Monaco, the differences began to narrow. But Barca’s cushion was too big, and when the Catalans saw the wolf’s ears (76-63), they picked up cruising speed again and completed their most convincing victory of the season.

Technical sheet

Barça-Monaco, 86-71

86. Barça (26+21+24+15): Panther (21), Satoransky (1), Parker (16), Vesely (10), Hernangomez (7) – starting team-, Nunez (2), Anderson (- ), Metu (7), Laprovittola (13), Brizuela (9) and Abrines (-).

71. Monaco (18+21+15+17): James (11), Loyd (4), Blossomgame (7), Motiejunas (8), Hitech (10) – starting team-, Strazel (2), Okobo (13 ). ), Diallo (12), Papayannis (4) and Brown (-).

Judges: Tomislav Hordov (CRO), Anne Panter (ALE) and Marcin Kowalski (Poland). No exceptions. Guest Diallo was penalized with a technical foul (min.23), and local Parker with an unsportsmanlike foul (min.40).

Incidents: The match on the third day of the Euroleague took place at the Blaugrana stadium in Barcelona in front of 5,368 spectators.