By Stelios Toromanidis / info@eurohoops.net
Sito Alonso’s team suffered their fourth loss away from home in the game in Moscow against CSKA (92-78), despite being competitive for most of the game. This is how they reached six unsuccessful results with a third of the season already gone and written a “black” page in their history in the top club competition in Europe.
It is patently clear that the Catalans are in a slump which started last season, where after eleven years they weren’t able to qualify for the EuroLeague playoffs, finishing the regular season with 12 wins and 18 losses. The post-Pascual era and the adjustment to the new circumstances seem to be taking a toll, even for a team of Barca’s caliber.
Despite this, they are a huge organization that will return to winning ways, sooner or later. For now, they have registered the worst start of the last 18 years, with a 4-6 record in the first 10 rounds of the season, while they are the only team without an away win (0-4), this being a first for the Blaugrana at the start of a season in the modern era of the EuroLeague.
The paradox here is that Alonso’s players are the top team in the competition both in terms of assists (21,6 per game) as well as the assist/turnover ratio (178,51%), while they have the third best offense (82,4 points per game), they’re third in the PIR (94,7 units per game) and fifth in defense (they concede 77,4 points per game).
And yet, they are in tenth place in the standings, out of the playoff spots. Nobody can tell whether they will bounce back, but so far the signs have not been encouraging. For the record, their best start was in the 2009-2010 season with a 10-0 record, while Barcelona has had five wins in the first five away games a total of three times (2009-2010, 2012-2013, 2014-2015).
Barcelona’s record (W-L) in the first 10 rounds in the EuroLeague (2000-today), in detail:
|
Season
|
Overall record
|
Away record
|
|
2000-2001
|
8-2
|
4-1
|
|
2001-2002
|
7-3
|
4-1
|
|
2002-2003
|
8-2
|
3-2
|
|
2003-2004
|
8-2
|
3-2
|
|
2004-2005
|
6-4
|
2-3
|
|
2005-2006
|
5-5
|
2-3
|
|
2006-2007
|
8-2
|
2-2
|
|
2007-2008
|
8-2
|
3-2
|
|
2008-2009
|
9-1
|
4-1
|
|
2009-2010
|
10-0
|
5-0
|
|
2010-2011
|
7-3
|
3-2
|
|
2011-2012
|
9-1
|
4-1
|
|
2012-2013
|
9-1
|
5-0
|
|
2013-2014
|
7-3
|
3-2
|
|
2014-2015
|
9-1
|
5-0
|
|
2015-2016
|
6-4
|
2-3
|
|
2016-2017
|
5-5
|
2-3
|
|
2017-2018
|
4-6
|
0-4
|
Barcelona’s away record this season in the EuroLeague, in detail:
|
Date
|
Round
|
Game
|
|
October 20
2017
|
2nd
|
Crvena Zvezda-Barcelona 90-82
|
|
October 26
2017
|
4th
|
Armani-Barcelona 78-74
|
|
November 15 2017
|
7th
|
Bamberg-Barcelona 84-81
|
|
December 1
2017
|
10th
|
CSKA Moscow-Barcelona 92-78
|
|
Total
|
4 games
|
0 wins-4 losses
|