By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona just keeps on rolling despite consistently missing two of its star players (Nick Calathes, Cory Higgins). Crvena Zvezda became the latest victim of the Blaugrana after Sarunas Jasikevicius and co. passed through Belgrade with a 76 – 69 win to register their seventh consecutive EuroLeague victory.
Red Star put up a fight against the top-placed team in EuroLeague and tried to come back from a 12-point deficit in the fourth period to make it a one-possession game down the stretch. It was the previously bucket-less Kyle Kuric who drained the 3-pointer with 29 seconds to play to put Barca up by seven and call it the game.
Nigel Hayes-Davis scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in his best game with Barcelona while Sertac Sanli and Rolands Smits added 11 points apiece to help the visiting side get the win. Their team shot 9-18 3-pointers (a vast contrast with Red Star’s 3-20) to make up for Barca beating them in the glass.
“Coach told me, he gave me some sh-t about finally doing a post-game interview in EuroLeague,” Hayes-Davis joked after the game. “He said it’s only for good players. I’ll try to be more consistent and hopefully, he’ll be more proud of me.”
Zvezda got 17 offensive rebounds against Barca’s 10 but wasn’t overall as effective as its opponents. The hosts trailed for the majority of the game and were behind by double figures for most of the second half before approaching at a shooting distance with a 3-pointer by Stefan Markovic for the 68 – 71 with 2:07 to play. ‘
They didn’t get any closer. Luka Mitrovic and Nikola Kalinic scored 15 points apiece for Zvezda.
“Congratulations to Barcelona for the win first of all,” Zvezda coach Dejan Radonjic said. “We played some parts of the game good, some parts not that good. In the end, we missed [some shots], they made. It was a good opportunity to make a surprise.”
It’s the result matters
Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius wasn’t exactly bothered that his team didn’t have the ‘perfect performance’ to get the win, especially since this is a double-game week.
“It’s exactly what we expected. In some situations, we got a little bit lucky; they missed some open looks,” Jasikevicius said. “We found a way to get to the line at the end. Here, you just take a win, especially with our schedule, with our situation, and go home. So we are very happy.”