By Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
Xavi Pascual already warned that the game against Baskonia was arguably Barça’s hardest challenge yet.
And the Catalan head coach was -once again- right.
Barça grabbed the win in the toughest of fashions, coming back and defeating Baskonia after three overtimes (134-124) on the way to a 12-5 record and a tie on the top of the EuroLeague standings with Hapoel Tel Aviv.
It’s the best offensive performance ever in the EuroLeague for most points scored by a team in a single game, with 134 points, plus a new record for the all-time highest scoring game with 258 points in total.
The previous record was 256 points in Real Madrid‘s victory over Anadolu Efes Istanbul in 202
Kevin Punter and his career-best 43-point performance led Barça, which had several players finish with double-digit scores: Darío Brizuela had 11, Thomas Satoransky added 16, Willy Hernangómez had 10, and Will Clyburn had 12 before leaving due to an injury.
Markus Howard had his best game of the season, finishing with 33 points to lead the away team in scoring. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot added 26, and Khalifa Diop, who arguably also had his best game of the season, finished with 14 points and 4 rebounds.
Ever since the tip-off, the feeling of the game was clearly in favour of Kosner Baskonia. The away team finished the first quarter with a solid lead (16-27) and managed to maintain its advantage into the second half, finishing ahead (47-53).
Things didn’t change much after the break. Baskonia was always dominating both the game and the scoreboard, resisting to finish the third quarter with a five-point lead thanks to a 70-75 that was more than great news for Galbiati’s team.
But Barça got what they had been fighting for 30 minutes: the comeback. Thanks to a Dario Brizuela three-pointer, the home team was finally ahead (87-85).
Baskonia needed to turn the game around, and two men stepped up. Markus Howard and TLC to give the away team the lead… but things didn’t end there.
The last minute started with the game tied 94, and Willy Hernangzómes had the chance to give back the lead to Barça. The Spanish centre only hit the first one, but Parra’s efforts gave Barça another chance to extend the lead.
Laprovittola went then to the free throw line, nailing two and giving Barça a lead (94-97) that only Markus Howard could fix for Baskonia. The American guard scored his sixth triple of the night to tie the game 97-97 and send it to overtime, as Lapro missed the potential game-winner.
And how about the extra five minutes? The story didn’t change, but this time it was Laprovittola first and Forrest after him that couldn’t score, sending the game to a second overtime.
Things were much different in the second overtime. Barça was clearly out of enegry and Kosner Baskonia exploited that weakness… but Kevin Punter happened, sending the game to a third extra-time.
Punter’s historic performance gave Barça a huge momentum that the team managed to keep in the third overtime, dominating Baskonia to finish the game with a blast.