By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Nicolas Laprovittola scored 24 points on 8-11 3-pointers as Barcelona defeated Baskonia 96 – 77 on the road in a postponed game for Round 20 of the Spanish ACB League. The Blaugrana took a bit of a payback for their home loss to the Basque side in the first leg of the regular season.
Nick Calathes was dishing out assists at the same rate as Laprovittola was hitting triples to finish with an ACB career-high 13 assists. This duo led an overall quite impressive Barcelona offense, especially after the break
With the score 31 – 42 after the first half, Barcelona hit four 3-pointers to go up 34 – 54 three minutes into the third period. Baskonia went down 42 -65 but trimmed the deficit to 54 – 67 by the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Barca’s answer came in the form of a 4 – 13 run that put the visiting squad back at a 20-point distance. There was no turning back from such a margin.
Simonte Fontecchio (19 points, five rebounds) and Matt Costello (15 points) stood out from Baskonia. Brandon Davies pitched in 15 points for Barca’s win, Nikola Mirotic scored 14 and Rolands Smits added 12 points plus five rebounds.