Barça pulled with pride in the last quarter to defeat Virtus Bologna (88-81) at the Palau Blaugrana, where the Barça fans, who a week ago against Real Madrid said goodbye to players and managers with whistles, reconciled with a team that sits in the noble zone of the Euroleague. In Óscar Orellana’s penultimate game as interim coach, the Barça team completed a 27-14 run in the last 10 minutes to unravel a very close match.
Five local players surpassed 10 points – Punter (17), Vesely (12), Laprovittola (10), Clyburn (13) and Shengelia (10) – in a Barça team in which they stood out from the perimeter (14 triples out of 33 attempts) against a competitive rival in which guard Matthew Morgan stood out (17 points).
The match started even, with an exchange of points between both teams. Barça, which found it difficult to close the defensive rebound, clung to the success of Punter and Laprovittola from the 6.75 meter line to counteract the hard-working attack of Dusko Ivanovic’s team (7-9, m.5). In the first quarter, the local team stopped Carsen Edwards, but Diouf, Diarra and Smailagic pierced the Barça team’s zone, which, however, closed the first quarter with a small advantage thanks to a triple by Nico Laprovittola (20-19).
The match continued along the same lines, with neither team breaking the duel, although its pace seemed to be controlled by the Italian team, which pressed back and chewed up each attack with passes that easily dismantled the defense of Barça’s second unit. Led in attack by the versatility of Jallow, author of a spectacular dunk, and Morgan, the transalpine team established a favorable lead of six points (m. 14). Barça pressed in defense and it was especially noticeable in the defensive rebound. Virtus did not have second chances and Óscar Orellana’s pupils found . A 7-0 run in the last 2 and a half minutes culminated with two triples from Punter, the last at the buzzer from the center of the court, making it 45-43 in favor of the home team before the break.
After passing through the locker room, the duel did not break down either. Edwards, with two easy baskets in a row, put his team ahead again (45-47, m. 21). But the protagonist of the third act on the Barça side was a former Virtus player, Will Clyburn, who played class in the low post to score 8 points that kept them afloat in a third quarter in which the visitors seemed to have a clearer idea of what to play. With their patient basketball, the transalpine team signed, under Morgan’s external hierarchy, a run of 2-9 in the last three minutes of the third period that left Barça, misguided from the perimeter, six points behind (61-67) before facing the last 10 minutes of the match. And with the success from the perimeter, he once again took control of the game.
A triple by Brizuela and another two consecutive ones by Parra in the first 2 minutes and 8 seconds of the period gave air to the locals (70-69) and forced Ivanovic to stop the match. The intensity of the Barça defense dwarfed the Italian team, overwhelmed in attack and unable to do any damage with the blocking and continuation that had penalized Barça so much in the first three quarters. And from 61-69 it went to 77-69 in five minutes.
A 16-0 run that ignited the Palau crowd, orphaned in recent years by outbursts of team pride. The game was far from over. The Italian team, with Diouf in the zone and Morgan from the perimeter, got within three points with less than two minutes remaining. But a triple by Clyburn with 53 seconds left ended the match in favor of the Catalans, who this Sunday against Baskonia will have another opportunity, to continue making peace with their fans before the arrival of Xavi Pascual.
