By Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
Barça has improved a lot after Xavi Pascual’s arrival, but the team had yet to face a big challenge, and Olympiacos is always one.
And the “Blaugrana” proved that it’s ready for everything, crushing the Greek team (98-85) to jump to a 10-5 record, while the guests dropped to 8-6, having played one game less.
Will Clyburn arguably had his best game with the Barça jersey, scoring 28 points to lead the Catalan team. Kevin Punter added 24 to finish as the second-highest scorer.
Sasha Vezenkov was Olympiacos’ top scorer with 22 points, while Tyler Dorsey added 19.
As expected, the game was very tight at the beginning. Despite an early lead for Barça, it was Olympiacos who finished the first quarter ahead (21-22)
But the home team got control of the game during the second quarter, finishing the first half dominating the scoreboard thanks to Will Clyburn (42-39).
Things didn’t change much in the second half. Clyburn and Punter kept scoring with ease, and Barça got the first double-digit lead of the game (59-47).
But the great news didn’t end there for the home team, as Barça got the lead to +18 (67-49), which allowed the Catalan team to approach the fourth quarter with a totally different mindset.
Xavi Pascual was able to give minutes to everybody, and the whole team stepped up, extending the lead to +19 (83-64) and finishing the game on a very high note.