his true home in basketball, and he did it to give the Barcelona fans a victory against Asvel Villaurbanne (88-78) with still too many shadows in his game. The direction of Juani Marcos and the defense of Myles Cale were decisive for Barcelona, much improved in defense – it left its rival at 13 points in the last quarter – to achieve its eighth victory in the Euroleague.
He got too tangled up against an Asvel Villaurbanne who entered the Palau with only three wins in twelve games. Throughout the first half he gave the feeling that he had it in his power to impose his superiority, but he proved incapable. A coach who was returning home and who surely did not like that his team conceded 25 points in the second quarter.
Toko Shengelia is a player who has as many virtues as wisdom. The Georgian is the total player. A 2.06m man who defends, rebounds, scores and assists. In just under eight minutes he kept his team on their feet against the impetuous Asvel thanks to his six points and five rebounds. Satoransky, the helmsman, was forced to sit out for eight minutes in the absence of Nico Laprovittola, who will be out of action for about a month due to an injury.
Joel Parra, Shengelia’s replacement, cannot contribute as much as his teammate, but he gave more intensity to the Barça team’s game. While Juani Marcos occupied the point guard position with good minutes and clearer ideas than in Joan Peñarroya’s time. Barça, yes, lacked regularity and continuity. The team felt that it was superior to its opponent and that led to a certain relaxation that Asvel took advantage of to stay in contention. , with many errors in well-selected shots, and order to express their superiority. Nando de Colo (22 points and nine assists), the stainless Frenchman, has so much basketball in his hands that, at 38 years old, he is still important. Even more so, a determining factor in this team that has a hard time getting out of the bottom of the Euroleague standings.
Barça was not entirely fine in defense during the first half (45-44) and was especially clumsy when committing personal fouls on the attackers of Pierric Poupet’s team, who took 22 free throws in those 20 minutes with only two errors. Special mention deserves De Colo, who also shines in this facet, where he has not yet failed in the Euroleague after 46 pitches. He is so successful that he takes advantage of all his experience to get fouls out of his defenders’ pockets (12/12 in this match).
Asvel began to believe in its options. The fourth victory was within reach and it grew against a Barça that was too chaotic. Bodian Massa commanded the paint and it didn’t matter which center passed through his domain. On the outside, De Colo expressed his qualities to score everywhere. But the French point guard, a historic point guard, needed a rest and in the third quarter he found a good replacement in Thomas Heurtel, who was booed at the presentation due to the problems he had with the club and the demand he placed on him for 1.5 million euros.
Kevin Punter (24 points) accepted the scoring challenge in a Barcelona that did not reach 50% accuracy in shots from two. Juani Marcos became his ally at the end of the third quarter to put the Blaugranas ahead again (68-65). Inside, Pascual opted for the national product with Willy Hernangómez and Parra, powerful on the rebound. The team was increasingly solid in defense and the Argentine point guard was in charge of changing the dynamics of the game to allow Barça to finally believe in victory (75-67). Pascual’s team already felt invincible and two great defensive actions by Cale finished propelling his team (80-69). Xavi Pascual’s Barça only needed to manage that advantage to continue growing in Europe.
