By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona needed a big win with just two games left in the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague regular season and got it in style.
The guests got the 83-75 win despite trailing by double digits at halftime and improved to a 19-14 record, good for the sixth spot at the moment, while Fenerbahce dropped to 22-11, leaving Olympiacos alone at the top (22-10) for the moment.
Jabari Parker, with 24 points and eight rebounds, was the leading scorer of the winners, and Joel Parra had a double-double (15 p. 12 r.) and a great crescendo in the last period.
“We wanted it more”, said Parker after the final buzzer. “I am not saying they are not a good team, they are a spectacular team, but we wanted it, and we have to keep playing like this if we want to go far in the EuroLeague… This is why I love the EuroLeague, we can’t take night offs”.
On the other side, Nigel Hayes-Davis had 20 points and Wade Baldwin 14, but it was far from enough in the second half.
Fenerbahce was missing Errick McCollum; however, on the other hand, Jan Vesely is still missing for Barcelona, with Cimezie Metu being the last player just one week ago who is out for the rest of the season.
A dominant second half and Parra
After a close first quarter, with Fenerbahce leading by two (23-21), the hosts scored 27 points in the second period. The hosts closed the first half up by 11 points (50-39), with Hayes-Davis already scoring 13 point
On the other hand, Barcelona had just 2/9 threes and had a hard time keeping up, as Fenerbahce also led by 13 (46-33).
Ηowever, with the shots starting to fall in the third period, Barcelona trimmed the lead to four points to end the quarter (66-62), with Satoransky and Parker each reaching the 15-point mark, even if the Czech guard didn’t score afterward.
However, that was just the start. Barcelona dominated the fourth period and, with a partial 19-4 score, got an 81-70 lead with 2.18 left on the clock, with Joel Parra scoring 12 points in the run.
Fenerbahce made it a six-point game (81-75) but couldn’t get any closer, scoring just nine points in the last quarter.
Photo credit: EuroLeague