Barça lost 76-71 at Casademont Zaragoza this Saturday, much more needy and more motivated, never stopped believing and did great in the last minute led by newcomers Christian Mekowulu and Frankie Ferrari with loyal spectators and taking care of the rest. it didn’t work out in a sensational meeting. Alex Abrines con 26 numbers and 7/8 triples.
Shock came two days After azulgrana defeat against Unicaja in Palau (63-73) and three days before the first game of the Euroleague quarterfinals to be played in a best-of-five draw against Bayern.
With only Cory Higgins in the infirmary, Saras rested the young cast, Sergi Martínez, and young actors Michael Caicedo and James Nnaji were no longer dressed. On the contrary, the Zaragozans arrived after some respite against Monbus Obradoiro (80-73), but knew that Betis’ victory over Andorra forced them to keep on winning.
Barça quickly left with five points from Nikola Mirotic (1-7, min. 3:05) and Icelandic ‘giant’ Hlinason (2.16 metres) ‘official’ beautiful minutes were canceled by a highly inspired Àlex Abrines, who also finished the first quarter with five points (11-16).
Ex-girlfriend from Oklahoma had the day and He scored two more three-pointers before missing the next one and making it 18-26 (min. 13:24) It led to a stage where the natives flourished and became closer on defense, thanks to the offensive work of ‘killer’ Adam Waczynski and new talent like Sean Kilpatrick that was starting to become important to Dragan Sakota’s team.
Casademont Zaragoza even managed to close one point with three free throws. Polish Waczynski benefited from only one (30-33). On the last move, it was oddly unsportsmanlike that Mekowulu fouled very hard on Exum just as he was about to run over. The electric ‘Australian exterior didn’t fail and sent the game to rest with 30-35.
Casademont Zaragoza returned with a three-pointer from former Madridista Santi Yusta (33-35), as Abrines scored two more threes and added 5/6 to 19 points. maximum visit revenue so far (37-46). This was followed by another blatant foul on Şanlı as he was about to dunk.
Mirotic forced Radoncic’s fourth foul to score under the basket after a move on the lower post (45-54, min. 26:03). There it looked like Barça could spoil the game, but once again they gave life to their opponents in perhaps one of their few flaws.
After two offensive rebounds, Waczynski and Mekowulu tightened the score at the end of the third quarter. Kuric closed with two baskets (51-58) and an unsportsmanlike play by an ill-advised Jokubaitis at the start of the last minute led to a score of 54-58. Jasikevicius was fiercely opposed. That was it and the other two weren’t? Some referees, as arrogant as they were misled, drew attention to his technique.
The Indians squandered a great opportunity by missing two free throws and a three-pointer, but Jokubaitis didn’t find the day in the other basket, followed by two errors. He maxed out a three-pointer from Ferrari (59-60, min. 33:54).
The Abrines’ two new trios hit again in Barça, who won 61-67. and was allowed to come back again by an opponent led by an excellent Mekowulu (68-67). In the ‘bonus’ for minutes, the locals defended Hlinason with ‘2+1’ and 16.8 points left, but the azulgranas could not even serve. Glorious didn’t move to open in the middle post and Calathes served straight open without the crossing lanes. In the end, a 76-71 win by Zaragoza won’t affect Jasikevicius, who is so pissed off in the qualifying.
Data sheet:
76 – Casademont Zaragoza (11 + 19 + 21 + 25): San Miguel (2), Bone (-), Yusta (7), Radoncic (2), Hlinason (11) -starting from five- Kilpatrick (5), Ferrari (16), Cook (-), Deon Thompson (-), Mekowulu (17) and Waczynski (16).
71 – FC Barcelona (16 + 19 + 23 + 13): Laprovittola (5), Calathes (-), Exum (4), Mirotic (12), Davies (4) -starting from five- Sanli (8), Smits (1), Hayes (4), Abrines (26), Kuric ( 5) and Jokubaitis (2).
Referees: Jordi Aliaga, Javier Torres () and Joaquín Garcia. They removed Mekowulu (art. 39) from the game for personal reasons.
incidence: The match, which coincided with the 29th week of the league, was played in front of 5,732 spectators at the Príncipe Felipe pavilion in Zaragoza.